I Just Need a Moment
by LZClotho
Summary: Post-"A World Without Magic" closing scene, Emma leaves Henry at Storybrooke Hospital and goes outside to get her head together. An encounter with Mary Margaret/Snow and David/Charming sets her world seriously to "Tilt." So she runs off - to the mayor's mansion. Eventual Swan Queen.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note and summary: **There were still images from a scene during first season that was apparently discarded. They pictured Emma (Jen Morrison) crossing a rain- and/or snow-slick street and she slips and falls. Snow (Ginny Goodwin) and Charming (Josh Dallas) come running to help her up. Emma pushes through them, defenses clearly up and the other two look clearly baffled as she leaves. Personally, I think the moment was supposed to be a Charming family reunion and intended to showcase Emma's emotional freakout in the face of the curse breaking. However, TPTB apparently have decided to save the reunion for season two, probably to more fully explore the emotional repercussion and I applaud that. Anyway, that's where the idea to write this scene came from... I jumped from the images to this sequence of events in my head, which are set right after the second cloud covers Storybrooke.

written: June 15, 2012  
first posted: June 15, 2012

_Thanks to Cheyenne for the beta read!_

**I Just Need A Moment (to Figure It All Out)**

**by LZClotho**

The magic cloud had brought with it a strange storm. Emma left Henry with a kiss in the care of the hospital staff - apparently the nun was the Blue Fairy? Emma had fought a dragon, negotiated with Rumplestiltskin, watched a man turn to wood. In the buffeting wind and rain outside, she let the dampness lash her face, just to feel normal again. Her footing faltered on the rain-swept asphalt and she fell to the street in the middle of the intersection.

"Emma!"

Dazed and rubbing her sore palms, Emma glanced up to see Mary Margaret running toward her. "Are you all right?"

David Nolan was right behind her. "Emma!" Both of them bent down toward her. Mary Margaret's hands clasped her arm first and the brunette was babbling. Emma felt closed in, trapped, and the look in Mary Margaret's eyes alarmed her. _Shit._ They knew. The moisture on Emma's face became tears. _God, I can't deal with this now!_

David tried to wrap his arms around Emma as she got to her feet like an ungainly filly. She pushed him away preserving her personal space and her sanity. "I'm fine. Fine. No." She cut off anything and everything they might have said. She just couldn't deal with this right now. "I - I gotta go." Go where she didn't know, but anywhere, away from here.

"But. Emma, baby-" Mary Marg - Snow _fucking _White, Emma's mind screamed - tried to grab for Emma's arm and she shook it off furiously.

"No! I. I can't. I can't do this right now!" The thick heaviness in her chest, that felt like she was suffocating from the inside out, terrified Emma. She pushed away from David and Mary Margaret, stumbling away. She continued across the street, destination unknown.

She looked up to find she was in front of Gold's Pawn Shop. It was dark and appeared to be locked up. She had felt a brief flare that he might have answers for her. Now she had no idea where to turn. She spun away and saw the sheriff's office and city hall down the block. Wait! "Regina! Regina! Fuck you! Where are you?"

Regina had run from the hospital after whatever had happened with Henry. Emma vaguely recalled hearing the nun warn her to hide. So where would the Evil Queen go to hide? _Her castle_, some connected, yet still seemingly comfortable with the absurd, part of her brain supplied. But there are no castles in Storybrooke. _Wait, the mansion!_

Would Regina go there? It wasn't exactly impregnable, but maybe it was simply the most familiar place Regina would think of. Emma still had a hard time wrapping her mind around the idea that Regina was The Evil Queen of Henry's book, even though she'd seen it through her own mind's eye. But Evil Queen's didn't cry. They didn't beg their sons to remember they love them. Oh, Regina resented Emma. She really had made a turnover to put Emma to sleep to get her out of Henry's life. But then she had put her own safety on the line to help Emma retrieve the potion. Regina had believed Rumplestiltskin because she was desperate, too. Desperate to save Henry. Maybe this - all this - was screwed up because Regina was screwed up.

That, Emma reasoned, suddenly made a lot of sense. So, yes, she decided, Regina would be at her home. Rushing to her comforting, rundown yellow bug, Emma roared toward the mansion on Mifflin Street.

Emma reached the entrance to the neighborhood only to see much of it blocked by a small crowd egging each other onward. Small being the operative word, she realized. She recognized Leroy out front. All the men were stocky. She heard one call Leroy, "Grumpy" and Leroy retorted something no doubt rude under his breath to "Doc."

Emma glanced skyward. Really? Dwarves? She eased the vehicle through and stopped, calling attention to herself and getting them to stop moving. "Hey, guys!" She caught all their gazes one at a time, watching bewilderment then recognition flare in each pair of eyes. "What's going on?"

"We're going to capture the Evil Queen," said one simply.

"She's not here," Emma lied. "I left her at the hospital." Let Mary Margaret and David, and the hospital staff deal with them. She wanted time alone with Regina.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I just came from there. Henry woke up."

"That's good news," said another.

"It is." She smiled, easily remembering the combination of relief and disbelief, and the pure crashing wave of love that had swept through her as she met her son's opening eyes.

The crowd turned away, beginning a march back toward the center of town; Leroy gave her a lingering suspicious look. "Go on. I got a 911 call to check on," she said.

He shouldered what she realized was a traffic post and others had on them similar makeshift weapons. Emma heaved a sigh of relief and got back in her Beetle. "That was close," she murmured, put the car in gear and continued on to the mayor's property. Now to find Regina.

She rang the doorbell. It seemed absurd when she thought about it, but she was living the definition of absurd right now and damn it, she didn't know any other way to approach the Storybrooke mayor. She tapped her foot anxiously. "Regina! Regina! Open up! It's Emma!"

The door opened. Regina Mills held the edge with her left hand and obviously the inside knob with her right. It curled her around the door and Emma's gaze was drawn to the knuckles, almost white. "Miss Swan," the mayor said. Her voice was dark, low, suspicious. Her gaze swept Emma head to toe, which made Emma look down at herself and realize she looked like a drowned rat, wet hair, pants soaked from her fall in the street. She'd been so dazed by everything she was dealing with she only now realized the chill that had grown along with being soaked. But she didn't have time for that now.

"I'm alone," Emma offered, sure that was part of Regina's reticence. "I have to talk to you."

Sternly Regina rejected that. "I have nothing to say to you." She started to close the door.

Emma swept forward, sticking her booted foot between the door and the jamb and bringing her own hand up to the door's edge. "Well then just listen, because I have a lot to say to you." She barely missed slamming into Regina when the woman hesitated in taking a step back out of the way. She heard the exasperated and resigned sigh and turned on Regina as soon as she was inside the foyer. "First, I thought you should know, people have their memories back."

"Yes, I know." Regina sounded stilted, but calm.

"But then there was this second cloud."

Regina exhaled still holding open the door. "Yes, I am aware of that as well. Miss Swan, I do not have the patience right now. Get to the point."

Emma looked around and noticed the house was quiet, unchanged. She didn't know if she had expected that, or expected to see some signs of the Evil Queen's return, a boiling cauldron or something. "What are you going to do?"

Regina's gaze blazed with anger. "What would you care? You broke the curse. Emma Swan." Emma's name fell with regret from Regina's lips. Then Regina's shoulders dropped and her voice grew frustrated, with an edge of the familiar derison. "The daughter of Snow White and Charming has vanquished the Evil Queen and restored everyone's happy ending. Henry must be ecstatic." The last was said with an unmistakable edge of sadness.

"Actually, we're both a little confused. If the curse broke, why didn't everyone go back?"

Regina turned away from Emma without answering and carefully closed her front door, taking the extra step of turning the deadbolt and stroking down the line where the edge met the frame before turning around. Emma continued to wait for a response, watching the brunette whose body language screamed temporizing. Either Regina was about to tell Emma a hastily constructed lie, or she was about unburden herself with the full and complete truth. The muscles in Emma's back tightened as she struggled between her curiosity and her fear. Which would it be?


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimers on part 1.

_A/N: Sorry for the delay, everyone. Hope it will be worth it._

_My thanks to Laura D for beta reading!_

**"I Just Need A Moment" Part 2**

by LZClotho

Emma clearly hadn't come here with murder on her mind - she'd have had her gun or James' sword for that. Taking a deep breath, Regina gave herself a few minutes of calm recollection. Securing her front door with the deadbolt as well as a tiny bit of defensive magic she had managed to control about twenty minutes before the blonde's arrival, Regina considered the emotional roller-coaster she'd ridden the last eighteen hours. Last evening she had received a call from the hospital saying Henry had been brought to the emergency room. Rushing to her son's bedside, barely able to contain her panic and worry about Henry's condition which they hadn't been able to describe over the phone, she was suddenly thrown around in a closet by a frantic and beyond livid Emma.

Under the painful crush of Emma's muscled forearm and body against her chest, in complete defeat and fear for Henry's life, Regina confessed that everything Henry had been talking about had been completely true.

Then Emma had the gall to ask her what they should do. Clearly meaning the two of them. Together. Regina recalled her consternation at the plaintive request. There was only one other person who knew about the curse and the magic it entailed: Rumpelstiltskin who had created it. Regina warned Emma that they couldn't take anything the imp said at face value, but Emma's anger toward her had put a stubborn and unheeding expression on the blonde's face. All Regina could do was follow quickly as Emma slammed out of the hospital, down the street, and into the pawn shop.

If there had been any doubts in Regina's mind by then about Emma's birthright, Rumple put them to rest within moments. Emma really was the daughter of James and Snow, Storybrooke's David and Mary Margaret. She was the embodiment of True Love, the Savior, the one foretold to break the curse.

Regina had watched Emma lift her father's sword, saw the shine reflect the woman's face and the anger blazing deep within green eyes. Regina felt Emma's commitment to the quest rise up in that moment as if it was a magic cloud billowing out of the woman. Having always seen Emma as a nuisance, as an obstacle to her happiness, even Regina suddenly felt hopeful that Emma would be successful, that her son might live. But first she had to slay the dragon.

At the library she and Emma had agreed to a cessation of hostilities long enough to save Henry, and then Rumple had betrayed them, tying up Regina and wheedling the egg-like container with the potion from Emma. Both of them had been equal parts devastated and angry, sure they had failed in their chance to save Henry. Then the hospital summoned them both.

Regina had witnessed Emma awakening Henry, and felt her heart soar and then sink. They hadn't needed the potion; Emma had the power all along. Then she realized Emma's action hadn't just awakened Henry, it had awakened the entire town. As prophesied, the Savior had broken the curse. The town now clamored for her blood from every corner; she could feel their hatred coming at her like a cloying darkness. Still she begged for Henry to know of her love for him and believe in it. But afterward she had no choice but to run. Every face she passed running from the hospital had held the same hateful recognition. Her life would be forfeit if she stopped.

Of all emotions, Regina most hated being afraid. It made her feel about eight years old, certain her mother's next reprimand would be the last, the one that ended her life. She had done everything in her life to never, ever feel that way again. And yet, here she was... looking at certain death once again. Cowering and afraid.

"Damn you!" One hand in a fist and the other extended claw-like, Regina lashed out, but Emma was faster. Emma shoved aside the hand going for her throat and her other arm batted away Regina's fist before once again crashing into Regina's chest, pushing them both across the small space. Regina's back impacted the wall driving the breath from her lungs. But she continued to fight. "You can't do this to me!" She wasn't sure if she was yelling at Emma or her own fear. She hiccuped and gasped for breath even as she shoved everything she had every which way. She felt trapped and terrified and started to bite at the hand that passed her face.

"Regina! Stop! Fuck!" Emma maneuvered away from the bite.

Abruptly, Emma's legs tangled with hers, dropping them both to the floor. Regina's head impacted the tile and her vision danced as she tasted blood in her mouth. Opening her eyes and wincing, Regina saw the blonde lowering herself across Regina's hips. She bucked, but the woman would not dislodge. However, Regina gave a triumphant grimace, able to ignore her own pain, when she saw Emma using the back of a hand to staunch blood flowing from a cut on her chin.

"Let me go!" Regina demanded.

"Damn yourself," Emma said, gasping a bit on the last syllable. "I told you I came alone."

"You intend to kill me for them. Their great Savior."

"I'm not going to kill you. Regina, I told you, if Henry died, you die. Henry," Emma paused still trying to catch her breath, "is alive. So you're going to stay that way too." Emma pushed herself off Regina.

Slowly Regina staggered to her feet, straightening her suit jacket and rubbing her head. "Henry would be the first to tell you I'm not his mother. You called me a sociopath and promised to take him away from me."

"You _are _his mother," Emma acknowledged. "But damn it. You engineered the kidnapping of a woman who called you _friend_! You devised some poison to try and get rid of me. I think the only thing you didn't orchestrate was Graham dying and me becoming Sheriff in this town."

"Actually," Regina responded, her voice calm, and tone strangely mixed between pain and pleasure. Seductive, if Emma had to put a single name to it. "I did kill Graham. The same way I went about trying to get rid of you. With magic."

"Seriously?"

"Graham was right. The Evil Queen had taken his heart." She leaned into Emma with a snarl. "Just like your _mother_you had to go awakening feelings in my heartless huntsman." She walked a few steps away. "So I crushed it."

"So you really are -"

"The Evil Queen? Of course, hasn't Henry been telling you?"

Emma shook her head. "OK. I'll ask you the same thing I asked you months ago when I first came. How did you get this way?"

"What does it matter? Evil must be vanquished. I'm surprised you didn't let the mob come for me."

"You're not evil. What you are is messed up. You weren't born this way. What happened to you?"

"Should I confess to some tortured past, let you beg for my life in front of the town? Is that what you'll tell Snow when she's leading everyone else over here to take off my head?" Regina sneered, sure that she was being played.

"No one," Emma placed emphasis on both words, "is going to take off anyone's head."

"You can't believe even you could fight off a mob?"

"I killed a dragon just a few hours ago," Emma replied, sounding a bit lighthearted and even quirking a tiny smile that made Regina's jaw drop slightly. She snapped her mouth shut when Emma continued. "But I actually don't think it'll come to that. They're good people. Good people don't resort to killing to solve their problems."

"Of course not," Regina scoffed.

Emma rolled her eyes. "Even the damn book only told part of the story, I know that. Hell... Forget it." Emma shoved at Regina's shoulders. "Let's skip over that part since I don't have time to play the blame game, just listen. I don't trust you as far as I could throw you." Emma took a step back and Regina found she could breathe a little easier - damn the blonde was solid muscle. She slowly brushed at her bruises and studied a tear in her jacket as Emma continued. "Yes, I know that makes two of us. Listen, you don't care about me - or any other residents of this town. But you cast the curse. So it stands to reason you've got the information I need to send everyone home. And I need that information."

"You seem very sure I'll help you." Regina glowered as she accidentally bit her own swollen lip as she spoke.

"Let's talk in your terms then. As long as I have something you want, you will help me."

Regina negotiated, "If I had magic I could just take Henry and run." She ruined her taunt by rubbing her cheek where she tasted her own blood and wincing.

"If you had magic you would have levitated me through three walls already." Emma called her bluff. "Even then, Regina, you won't hurt Henry. If you kidnapped him you know he'd never forgive you. I'm betting that chance is worth your time and effort in working with me on this."

Trying to present more bravado than she felt, Regina retorted, "He doesn't love me now. Knowing he was right, who I really am, he never will." Regina couldn't keep the pain from her voice. For almost ten years she'd felt every happiness she thought she'd been denied. Now, she felt like she was losing Daniel all over again and a gaping tear was once again ripping through her body, shredding her heart.

Emma's gaze was hard, unforgiving. "That hope I saw in your face at the hospital will keep you in line."

Regina had no response.

"So," Emma said, "do we have a deal?"

Emma was right; Regina would do anything for a chance at regaining Henry's love. But it still felt like walking through fire praying not to burn alive. Making a face that clearly said she was chewing broken glass, Regina nodded tightly.

"All right. Let's go."

Emma made quick work of the locks and exited the front door. Regina hesitated at the threshold; after all, she'd put a protection charm on the house, not on herself. If she left, she would be at the mercy of anyone she encountered, either magically, or (here she rubbed her low back where Emma's shove had made Regina impact the wainscoting) physically. Her nightmare came back to her.

Regina looked out, hand still on her door jamb, at Emma sliding into the driver side of her beaten up yellow car. For some reason the moment made Regina think of the wall of flames Emma dashed through at city hall almost two months ago. Emma was going to leave her.

Cries of "Kill the witch!" and "This way!" rumbled, drawing Regina's attention to the neighborhood entrance.

"Regina! Damn it, come here." Emma Swan, standing again and leaning on her car door, gestured to Regina with an outstretched hand.

Just like in the fire, a baffled Regina Mills found herself taking it. She ran toward the car and slipped into the passenger side as Emma dropped into the driver seat, revving the engine.

* * *

In the car, Emma told Regina, "Lock your door. We're going to drive through them."

Regina did as she was told. "Where are you taking me?"

"To the police station."

"So you are going to lock me up."

"I'm going to protect you. I need your help."

"What if I can't help you? Will you throw me to the wolves then?"

Emma looked at Regina clearly frustrated. The action made her pause the car. The mob rushed it, banging on the steel frame. Despite herself, Regina flinched and leaned toward Emma, unconsciously seeking protection.

Emma put a hand over Regina's which had, to the brunette's dismay, slipped onto Emma's thigh. "Who hurt you so badly you don't trust anyone to help you?"

Regina didn't answer. The women studiously looked away from one another as Emma drove on. They would have only a few minutes before the mob figured out where they went. Once at the Sheriff's Office, Emma watched Regina step out. Would she run? To her surprise, though Regina looked around quickly she pulled her jacket around her body like a shield, dropped her head and entered the building. Emma followed.

"Regina?" Emma called. The woman was out of sight just in the short space of time between her entrance and Emma entering the building.

The bathroom door opened and Regina stepped out. Emma saw evidence that the woman had wet her face, trying to put herself emotionally together. "What happened to you?" Emma asked.

"Excuse me. I had to use the facilities." Emma hadn't meant that, but Regina clearly was trying to establish emotional walls that were crumbling almost as fast as she could assemble the pieces. Regina drew herself up in light of Emma's scrutiny. "Shall we?" The brunette gestured toward the main office space.

Emma directed Regina into a seat next to her desk. She remembered the day Regina had greeted her here, sitting on her desk with ankles crossed about to orchestrate another lie. The confidence was gone now. Regina looked much more like a woman afraid. The brunette kept glancing toward the jail cells, but Emma made no move toward them. She settled into her chair and leveled her gaze at Regina.

After a moment of silence, each of them taking in the appearance of the other, Emma spoke. "So, Regina, what do you know about the curse on Storybrooke?" She decided to use the woman's expectations to her advantage.

"I cast it 28 years ago, from a spell that Rumpelstiltskin created."

"What were the conditions of this curse?" Emma steadily held Regina's gaze.

"Everyone would lose their happy endings, and I would finally get mine by coming to a land without magic."

"So this curse is built on the idea that in a land with magic you couldn't get what you want."

They both heard the crowd gathering outside. The chanting was back. Regina's gaze darted to the windows; Emma reached into her drawer and withdrew her gun. There was a jangle of metal and glass as someone, or several someones, shoved their way through the Sheriff's office door.

Emma came to her feet, gun in hand, blocking Regina from rising, and standing between whoever was coming and the brunette. She felt Regina's hand tentatively touch her back and then withdraw.

"Emma!" Snow, followed by James, entered the room.

"Stop!" Emma lifted the gun, drawing her parents' attention to it.

"Emma? What is this?" James stared bewildered at the gun.

"I'm interviewing Regina."

"She's lying."

"She's only being questioned," Emma said carefully. "I don't intend to charge her with anything."

"I'm queen, and she has committed a crime against the realm."

Emma pointed her gun at the floor, taking aim in front of Snow's feet. She pulled the trigger. The firing pin snapped into place with a sharp startling click. Snow jumped backward with a scream. James caught her in his arms.

Emma's voice was cold. "_I_ am your daughter. _You _sent _me _here to solve all your problems for you. We do this _my _way."


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimers on part 1._

_**Author's Note:** Thank you for all the follows and feedback. This update: Emma demands some answers._

**I Just Need A Moment Part 3 **  
by LZClotho

Emma strategically kept herself between Regina and her parents as she directed everyone into an interrogation room. James and Snow entered first. She directed them to the far side of the table and brought Regina in behind her before closing the door.

As Emma and Regina settled in chairs opposite her and James, Snow looked around. "So we're to be treated as the criminals again?" Snow's question was fierce as she took James' hand. "You lost, Regina. We have our happy ending back." She leaned forward across the table and shoved their joined fists toward the brunette woman who looked between and past them, saying nothing.

From her words, Emma knew Snow had recalled being questioned in this same space about Kathryn Nolan's murder. Emma cast a glance at Regina, remembering the evidence that all pointed to Regina framing Snow and now knew this had all stemmed from a wrong done in the literally ancient past. But Henry's storybook had only described it as a betrayal, not explaining about what. Whoever had written it, maybe even planted it for Henry to have, hadn't been privy to the truth.

But she intended to be firm that this was about the here and now that was running amok. She didn't let the silence linger.

"I brought you _all_ in here to resolve the immediate situation," Emma said, pushing James and Snow's joined fists off the table. She rose and leaned down hard on her knuckles, flitting her gaze among all three. "I _don't _care to hear a litany of she did this, he did that, to me. It's all bullshit. What's done is done. Henry's storybook obviously shared a lot of the story, but not all of it."

She looked at Regina and in a gesture of laying all her cards on the table so the brunette might feel inclined to do the same, she said, "The last few pages that Henry tore out? They revealed I was the Savior, said I would have to vanquish the Evil Queen to bring back the happy endings and begin the Final Battle." Regina winced. Emma continued, now turning to James and Snow. "I burned them because I didn't believe them. I'm no knight, no savior. I was just an orphan who'd been left at the side of the road with no idea who I was or where I came from." Emma's voice trailed off, choking with emotion as she stared at James and Snow in anguish.

Snow had once joked, as Mary Margaret, that Emma kind of had her chin. She now searched James' face for signs of herself, was it perhaps in the tilt of his nose, or suggested in the curve of his brow? These were her parents? They were both looking at her with frustration and, if she had to define it, worry.

She swallowed and tossed a long lock of hair behind her shoulder. "But that wasn't true either." The vehemence in her voice made James and Snow visibly wince. Even Regina averted her eyes. "Was it?" Emma demanded, slapping her fist against the table. "No, you actually sent me here with a seven year old _kid_ who ran off at the first opportunity because giving _a child_ the _responsibility of an adult_ is an _asinine_thing to do!" Emma's voice rose with the pitch of her anger and she suddenly slammed both fists into the table.

James averted his eyes and Snow jumped. Regina was removed enough from Emma's direct verbal attack that she caught the detail before the woman's parents did. "What? Wait, I thought you were the only one to escape the curse?"

Emma answered curtly, "August. You had me look into him? Turns out the reason he was here wasn't Henry. He was here to put _me _back on track. He's goddamn Pinocchio."

Snow looked up at Emma. "Pinocchio?"

"Yeah." Emma paced. "He, uh, I don't know. But before I met Regina at the library, I went to see him." She wiped her eyes remembering the unbelievable, yet final, sight of the man on his bed. "He turned to wood while I watched. He said it was because... because he – I wasn't breaking the curse fast enough."

"He's dead?" James asked. "Where is he?"

"He's in a room at Granny's."

James looked to Snow, then Emma. "Someone should let Gepetto know." But they didn't know which of their Storybrooke neighbors was the gifted woodcarver. All eyes turned to Regina.

Regina looked back stubbornly silent. After several moments during which she heard only the annoying ticking of the clock over the door and her own heartbeat she sighed. "All right. All right, yes, I know. It's Marco."

"That was Henry's guess," Emma said, recalling her conversation with her son following the rescue at the mine.

"Henry is a very bright child," Regina replied quietly, looking down at her hands in her lap.

"He had you figured out, witch," James fumed.

"He didn't question my love for him until you gave him that damn book!" Regina snarled at Snow.

"He's Emma's son! Yet another thing you stole," Snow retorted.

"I did not _steal _Henry. I didn't know anything about his mother beyond the fact that she had given him up."

Emma saw Snow working herself up to no doubt call Regina a liar. She cut in quickly. "You know she's not lying. I told Mary Margaret – you – the same." Emma was stern. "Leave Henry out of this... feud... you have with each other." She exhaled and rubbed her hands in frustration over her face before continuing. "All right. Now. Let's try to be productive here. Curse: broken. But what the hell was that cloud?"

Snow shook her head. "James and I were out on the street when it hit us. We already had our memories back. It doesn't seem to have changed anything."

"Regina?" Emma had caught the dark woman fidgeting with her hands. "What do you know about it?"

Considering not answering, Regina looked up at Emma. Something in the woman's eyes, an honest curiosity, and that fact that she continued on some level to be true to her word, made Regina admit, "It was magic." She knew exactly where Snow and James would go with the information and what she would have to admit to as a result. Admitting this information meant exposure; she was essentially defenseless in a world with magic because for some frustrating reason _she _couldn't access it, at least not without a great deal of effort. She could sense it, even see it. It wafted off Emma in little wisps like the woman had walked through a nitrogen freezer, which was a fascinating development. But Regina herself couldn't control it.

"You have magic?" James demanded.

Without directly revealing her control issues, Regina responded, "I suspect your fairy friends and Rumpelstiltskin do, too." Regina looked at her fingers as she brought them onto the table. Just watching her fingers doing _nothing _was disheartening. Briefly both Snow and James had looks of trepidation on their faces.

While she talked, just to see a flicker of her former power, just to taste their fear for a moment, Regina cupped her hand above the table surface, making tiny sparks hiss and spit and slowly form a coiled ball of energy. At first it was only the size of a speck, but slowly it grew to about the size of a golf ball.

"Regina," Emma spoke with a distinct note of warning. There was the sound of chairs scraping across the floor as James pulled Snow and himself away from the table.

"Don't worry, dear." Her voice was straining. She finished with a sigh and snuffed the manifestation with a quick twist of her wrist as she closed her fist. "That's it."

Emma could see a sheen of sweat on Regina's brow and upper lip, and the rapid tattoo of the woman's racing heartbeat in her jugular.

"You're lying. You have to be," Snow demanded. "You're planning something."

With a tired exhale, Regina sounded affronted. "I was trying to barricade myself in my home when Miss Swan... fetched me here." She finished with a decided note of distaste in her tone.

"Is everyone going to be like that?" Snow demanded.

"I have no idea," Regina replied.

"Any idea how it happened?" Emma asked. "Anything that might let us know how to stop it?"

"You can't stop magic, dear. Once it's unleashed, it's here to stay. How you use it, that's the trick."

"Do you know how it got here?" Emma asked, rephrasing the question bluntly.

Regina explained what she had seen in her vision during the cloud's passing. "I saw Rumpelstiltskin at the well."

Emma blinked. "The well? You mean the Wishing Well?"

"You know of it?" Regina was surprised.

"August – Pinocchio – who the hell ever he is. He took me out there once. But why would Gold – excuse me, Rumpelstiltskin. Why would he go there?"

"In the other world, the Wishing Well carries water from Lake Nostos," James said before Regina could. "It is said that the water can bring back things that are lost." He looked at her. "You say the well is here? In this world?"

"That's pretty much what August said," Emma confirmed. "I thought he was kidding, believing in fairy ta..." Her voice trailed off as she realized what she was saying. She glared at the pair across the table – her parents! On the heels of the anger came the sadness, which she stomped with a growl. "Damn it! This is crazy! A whole town full of fucking fairy tale characters in the middle of goddamn Maine! What am I supposed to do with you!"

"Let us help you," Snow said. "We know these people. They're our..."

"Subjects," Emma cut in.

"Our friends. We'll find the Blue Fairy. We'll find a way home. For all of us."

"What am I supposed to do about the magic in the meantime? How do I lock up a magic imp – " and here she gave a nod toward the cells at the back of the other room, "in a six-by-eight plain iron jail cell?"

"If you can catch him," Regina added.

Emma noted the slightly smirky tone and rolled her eyes, but she felt a smile trying to pull at her lips even as she scolded, "_Not _helping."

"I thought that's why you brought me here. That was the bargain. I help you for a chance to make amends with Henry." Regina even put her hands demurely on her lap as she lifted her gaze toward Emma.

"You made a deal with Regina?" Snow asked. "Emma! No!" Both she and James chastened her.

"More like blackmail," Regina interjected. "But I see that I -"

"Regina, shut your mouth, or I'll kill you myself," Emma growled. Regina smiled, clearly pleased at having gotten under Emma's skin. Emma groaned; she did not appreciating being called on the carpet by people who were supposedly her long-lost parents and yet seemed to be barely older than herself. And on top of that she had Regina enjoying both her discomfort and antagonizing her further. James and Snow stared at her disapprovingly. "I told you," she said to them again. "We're doing this my way."

"At least let us contact Gepetto, let him get Pinocchio." Emma nodded. "You intend to stay here?" James asked as he pulled out Snow's chair and took her arm.

"I still need information from Regina," Emma said quietly. "Besides, this is the safest place for her at the moment."

"Emma, let her fend for herself. You had to," Snow said.

"Regina is Henry's mother," Emma said quietly and firmly. "I will not allow anything to happen to her. He doesn't deserve that. I won't argue about it again."

Emma started to close the door to the interrogation room only to realize Regina was still inside.

"Regina?"

The brunette looked up at her, dark chocolate eyes querulous. "Miss Swan."

"I hope you're pleased with yourself. You didn't have to taunt my parents."

"But it is something I enjoy doing."

"Maybe I should find out which one of these citizens is your mother and make you squirm."

The quip had been in jest, to make Regina understand something of the discomfort Emma had just endured. But the absolute fright that sped across Regina's features before the woman drew herself up in anger told Emma that was not how it was received. The dark eyes were growing stormier by the second.

"Regina? Regina, I was..." She saw the brunette's hand sparking again. "OK. OK. Angry. I got it." Regina looked down at her hand curiously Emma realized. But the woman still had worked herself into quite the sweat from the second display of power.

The sparks faded; Regina swallowed, then licked her lips before she bit out each of her words. "Do not _ever _mention my mother. Never again."

"Got it." _And I thought I had parental issues._

Wisely Emma made no further comment as she held the door and gestured for Regina to lead the way into the main room of the Sheriff's Office. As her gaze traveled incidentally down the woman's back, Emma realized Regina Mills was actually shaking. Her hand started off the door toward Regina; in mid-air she fisted her fingers and stopped the impulse to offer a comforting touch. It would probably not be welcome. Nor did she actually know what she would say should the woman acknowledge the contact.

Out in the main office area once again, Emma asked Regina if she'd like a cup of coffee or tea. Regina sat down in the chair alongside Emma's desk. She swallowed several times then asked with a surprising note of honesty, "Got anything stronger?"

Emma looked sharply at Regina's face remembering posing the same question when she had first come into Regina's life, announcing herself as Henry's birth mother. From the dip of Regina's chin Emma realized she was recalling the moment too. Emma smiled slowly but found it eased tensions in her neck and back as the brunette's smile loosened, becoming a little more relaxed. Finally she answered Regina's request. "I don't keep anything here, but how about later? After we see how we can get on this?"

Regina asked, "Is there a chance I could see Henry today?"

Emma nodded. "He's still at the hospital as far as I know."

"At the hospital? Wasn't he all right?"

"I only left him there two hours ago," Emma said gently.

"Two hours?" Regina brushed her fingers through her hair. "It feels like ages."

"Yeah, feels like the whole world went and tilted, huh?"

"I never..."

"It's all right. I'm freaked out about it, too."

"You're their Savior. You'll be fine."

"And you're so sure they'll tear you apart. I really don't intend to let that happen."

"I don't understand why you're doing any of this. I know what I've done, Miss Swan. Unlike the rest of them, I kept all my memories. And now that they have theirs back... Well, you heard your parents... I should be left to fend for myself. It's what I deserve."

"Why is the situation so black and white to everyone?" Emma asked. It wasn't the question she had wanted to ask first, but it would do.

"Fairy tales _are_ black and white, dear. The Good are always good, the Evil villainous."

"Bullshit. I know you don't believe that. Everything happens for a reason, and sometimes making it through means doing something wrong for the right reasons."

"I thought you didn't want a rehashing of history."

"I hated the subject in school," Emma quipped. "All those names and dates, and dead people." She tried to make light of it, smiling at Regina.

Regina however didn't return the smile. In fact her expression fell and her voice was low and melancholy. "Sometimes those dead people shouldn't be dead."

Emma caught the woman's oddly strained tone, and easily read the turmoil in dark eyes, and sat forward in her chair. "So, you lost someone?"

Regina looked down at her hands. "I lost... everything."


	4. Chapter 4

_Disclaimers in part 1_

_**Author's Note:**__the song Regina sings near the end of this section is an original composition by Ines Batista, a member of the Swan Queen Facebook group. It is with her gracious permission that I used it here. Further, I must thank all the members of the Swan Queen group for your inspirational help and support as I worked through this part of the story._

And super-thanks to Laura D for beta reading!

**I Just Need A Moment Part 4**  
by LZClotho

"What exactly do you mean by 'everything'?" Emma asked, leaning back in her chair, the implied invitation to talk openly clear. Especially in green eyes that held her attention with surprising warmth.

Regina hesitated still, a habit born of having to work alone so long. "There are certain things that make life's hardest moments worth living through," she said finally. "Love of a parent, love of a child, the steady touch of a lover." She didn't really know why she added the last, but Emma's nod was still warm.

As was her voice. "These are the things you lost in the other world?"

Resisting the pull of green eyes, Regina nodded, but wouldn't elaborate. "I told you I wouldn't give you some traumatic tale to make you pity me."

"You told Mary Mar- Snow White - during the interrogation that you knew what it was like to have your heart broken. Did... did Davi- James actually love you first?"

Regina shook her head, recalling her failed attempt at seducing James when he thought he was the malleable David Nolan. She could admit now it had been a ridiculously desperate idea. "This was long before Charming was in the picture. Your mother was a mere eight years old."

"You were her stepmother, her father's second wife." Emma said as if confirming facts.

Nodding, Regina explained, "Her father's name was Leopold. And I didn't become his wife until after I had saved your mother on a runaway horse." Regina withstood Emma's scrutiny as a tiny furrow appeared in the blonde's brow. "I'm telling the truth, dear."

"How did you save Snow White?"

"I rode after her on my own horse."

"What does this have to do with the curse?" Emma curtailed the story.

"It all goes to motive," Regina replied. "I should have let her die that day."

Emma scowled. "Well, I'm glad you went with different instincts. I wouldn't be here. _Henry_," she emphasized with a serious expression, "wouldn't be here."

Regina let out her breath. "Clearly there is proof of the saying 'no good deed goes unpunished'."

"C'mon, Regina, Henry's a good thing."

"Yes, he is." Despite the pain knowing he didn't love her caused, Regina smiled as she thought of her son.

"You helping me out is gonna mean a lot to him."

"I wouldn't be in this situation, relying on your protection, if I could just control the damn magic."

"You came to a world without magic because you couldn't get a happy ending there, Regina. Maybe you don't need the magic to find it."

Regina blinked.

"I was listening. When you cast the curse it was specifically to bring you to a world without magic." Emma leaned over her knees, locking her gaze directly with Regina's. "The way I figure it, magic is actually no friend to you. You'd done quite well for yourself here without magic. It's when you fell back into trying to use it that it screwed you over."

"Don't presume to know -"

"I don't presume," Emma replied. "I'm pretty good at piecing clues together. Did you use magic as a child?"

"No! I never!" Her heart raced as she recalled her fear of magic during her childhood. She snapped off the memory before _she _could appear in it... Emma's voice and the motion of her hands grounded Regina further.

Emma tossed out her right hand, offering a theory. "See, if you had, you might have saved Snow White with a quick spell. But you didn't. You rode after her on your own horse. You didn't use magic as a child, so it was something you learned."

"Of course I _learned _it. Only fully magic creatures like fairies get born with magic." Regina watched Emma shake her head. "You don't believe me?"

"Oh, I believe you. I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of discussing fairies with the Evil Queen." Emma chuckled softly as she finished speaking.

"I taught myself to use magic," Regina said proudly. "There are some magical items, but most magic is learning to capture what's around you and using it for whatever you need."

"And what did you need it for, Regina?"

Without hesitation, Regina replied, "It gave me security."

Emma's gaze held hers. "Who did you need to be safe from?"

Regina hesitated, then answered, "I had a husband who preferred the love of a long-dead wife."

"Leopold hurt you?"

"No, he never touched me."

"Why'd he marry you if he never -" The phone on Emma's desk rang, interrupting her question. Picking up the receiver, she said, "Sheriff's Office." After listening a moment, she asked, "A situation? What sort of situation?" Another pause. "Shit!"

"What?" Regina asked.

"There's been a cyclone hit at City Hall."

"Magic," Regina said.

"That'd be my guess." Emma turned back to the phone. "David, I'll dispatch the fire department. Can you start a first aid station?"

To Regina's surprise, Emma's expression fell. "I meant James. Sorry. What? The hospital? Was she hurt?" Emma asked, her tone at the tail of the question going up in a sign of alarm.

Unable to hear the other side of the conversation, Regina asked, "What's wrong at the hospital?"

"Apparently some of the patients are disoriented. Snow went over to see what she could do."

"Disoriented?" Regina frowned, then realization struck. "Their memories! With the curse broken they only have their memories of the other world. They don't know anything about Storybrooke or life here."

"The way David didn't know he was David until the curse could get through his amnesia?" Emma figured out. "You gave everyone their lives here?"

"Yes. Only now there's no curse to give them Storybrooke identities. If they get upset or confused, they'll tap magic first and ask questions later."

"Exactly how I'd feel if I was out of time and place. So the curse would sort of hand out all the necessary knowledge for living in this world?"

"Yes. And now it's not available to give them that information."

"So who are we dealing with here? Like your 'friend' under the library?"

"No more dragons, though there are a few shape changers," Regina said. "They were all magic users who for one reason or another I couldn't guarantee their safety in this new world."

"Safety? For them or for you?" Regina frowned. Emma spoke into the phone again. "Dav – James, are you still there?" She nodded. "OK. We'll head over to the hospital and help there."

As Emma was hanging up the desk phone her cell phone rang. "It's Mary Margaret," she identified, putting the cell phone to her ear. "What's up?" After a moment, Emma asked, "They want Regina? Why?"

Snow's explanation left expressive marks all over Emma's face, from a deepening furrow between her brows, to the wrinkle in her nose, and a twist of her lips, first in one direction, then another.

"For godsakes, Sheriff!" Regina demanded. "What's going on?"

"There have been threats on your life."

Immediately Regina thought of Henry still at the hospital. "Is Henry safe?" When Emma gave her a puzzled look, Regina connected the dots for her quickly. "He's in danger if they learn he's my son."

"Right. Mary Mar- Snow, could you get Henry out of the hospital safely? Maybe take him to Dav- James?" Emma shook her head at something Snow said. "No, don't send him home. If they learn of Regina's mansion-Oh, you meant the apartment." Emma frowned and worried her free hand in the loose hair falling over her forehead.

Regina's teeth worried at her bottom lip but she said nothing. Emma looked toward her and came to some sort of decision.

"No, let him go to David. He'll never stay put if we leave him alone in the middle of probably the most excitement he's seen in ten years." Emma nodded and pulled the phone away from her ear, ending the call with a tap to the screen.

"What's happening?" Regina asked.

"Snow is sending Henry to James at City Hall. At least he'll stay put and someone will be watching over him."

Regina nodded tightly, unable to speak as she felt a lump in her throat.

"So, where were we?"

Regina shook her head; she couldn't recall. The 911 line ringing in the small dispatch room made her jump. Emma ran to retrieve it. "Storybrooke Sheriff's Office, what's your emergency?"

Regina walked up behind Emma just in time to hear the blonde shout into the phone, "What the hell do you mean there's a pied piper luring kids out of school?" Emma dropped the phone and turned to the door. She stopped at the threshold and looked at Regina. "I can't leave you here alone. What do you know about dealing with pied pipers?"

"I'll wager a lot more than you do," Regina said. "What's better, you don't really need magic to do it."

"Then let's go." Emma grabbed her Sheriff's jacket off the rack and palmed the keys to the cruiser from the pocket.

* * *

"So, exactly how are we going to stop this?" Emma slammed shut the door of the police cruiser. The scene before them was a certifiable mess. Adults and children were running everywhere. Some children were fighting to escape from adults holding them back and others fought with each other as they tried to gain better vantage points, like a mob at a music concert. The focal point of all this mayhem was a lanky man in a choir robe playing a silver pipe, bouncing around on legs as spindly as his tune. The melody could just be heard over the cacophony, but Regina's stentorian voice captured Emma's attention.

"You have to get the pipe away from him."

"I'm guessing the magic is in the pipe?"

"You'd guess right."

"He's completely surrounded by kids!"

"That's his defense. They're caught up in the magic song to do his every bidding. As the tune changes he's directing them."

"So let me just get my shoulder pads out and tackle the bastard."

"As usual, Miss Swan, you lack finesse. A direct assault will only cause injuries to you and the children. The children will do their best to keep you away from him if you approach him directly."

"You're going to have to tell me how you know these things sometime," Emma quipped. She shrugged out of the thick sheriff's jacket and threw it on the hood of the car. If she was going to be wrestling someone she intended to have her full range of motion to do it.

"I read. You know? Books, Sheriff?" Regina was almost smiling through her sarcasm. Her brown eyes were definitely twinkling. The woman's spirits were clearly lifting with a problem to solve.

"I thought we already covered how unreliable those things are!" With their arrival, Emma and Regina caught the attention of several children and adults in the crowd. The Pied Piper also had obviously sensed their threat to his plans. His tune changed and Emma found herself bodily swept into a melee of children.

Trying not to trample anyone nor let them pull her down, Emma struggled to move through the sea of bouncing, dancing children. She glanced over her shoulder and spotted Regina moving in the opposite direction. "What are you doing?" she shouted.

Moving into another area of the crowd, Regina yelled, "I'm your distraction!"

Emma saw the moment when five adults recognized the former queen. Their heads snapped around to the sound of the brunette's voice. They stopped trying to round up the children and instead chose to follow her. "Regina, watch your back!"

_Shit_. Emma was torn. She hadn't saved the woman from a mob scene at her home only to have the brunette dive headlong into another one.

"Get the pipe!" Regina yelled back, as she dropped her heeled shoes on the ground and took off running.

"Fuck," Emma muttered under her breath. Exhaling she scanned the area again and relocated her quarry. The Piper - how droll of Regina to have made him the school choir director - was leading children into the street in front of the school, in the direction of the waterfront. "Oh, no you don't, buster!" Emma scooped children this way and that in her haste to reach the man. She jerked her hand back when what appeared to be a six year old boy bit her. "Ow!" She gave the kid a nasty look and swept his legs out from under him, leaving him on his back on the ground. He would be winded, but otherwise unharmed. She shook off the pain of the bite and reassessed her situation.

In response to the act of knocking down the boy, other children around Emma moved in closer. She was so distracted trying to keep them from hurting her at the same time trying not to hurt them, she found herself stumbling off the curb into the street. She lost focus beyond simply trying to stay upright. Her ears caught the piper's tune.

"Hey, that's pretty catchy," she murmured, tapping her fingers against her jeans along with the rhythm. Seemed like she'd heard it somewhere before. Maybe as a kid? Had that sort of jingle-jangle that would go well with little kids' rhyme songs. An image flashed in her mind of dancing along with animated characters on some video popped into a player by a playroom minder at the group home. She swung her hips and tapped her toes. The children around her smiled at her. _Yeah..._

The Pied Piper smiled at her and continued playing. Giving a jaunty swing to the beat, he shifted tempo again and started off down the street, children, and Emma, dancing after him.

Regina heard the disruption and then resumption of the pipe music and risked a glance back over her shoulder to locate Sheriff Swan. The blond head was easily identifiable in the melee. In the same moment she realized with a jolt of aggravation that Emma's hips were swaying and she was moving with the children into the street.

"Oh for godsakes!" She rolled her eyes. A man popped up suddenly in front of her arms wildly trying to grab her. Though she punched him in the face, she couldn't actually drop him. He did stagger though which gave her a few seconds. She looked at the school outbuilding where she'd stopped to catch her breath. An lawn equipment shed. She grabbed a metal rake by the long wooden handle and round-housed on him, dropping him like a stone. She was bent over to check his head when another pair of hands swept the air almost latching onto her.

"All right, time to get out of here!" Regina fisted her hands and closed her eyes, envisioning herself materializing next to the school crossing sign Emma had just danced past. _Please work! _she begged.

Pain erupted in her back and head, and her stomach twisted. Sweat poured down her face as the pain eased off. She opened her eyes. Wiping the sweat away with both hands Regina gasped for breath. Looking up from her position on her hands and knees she nearly cried in relief. The school crossing sign was directly in front of her. She scrambled to her feet and jerked her head in the direction she had seen Emma going with the rest of the children.

They were already a hundred yards away. Emma had caught two children's hands in her own and was swinging arms as they all bounced along.

"I should have known..." Regina muttered. "Sheriff!" she barked to get the woman's attention. "Miss Swan!"

But it wasn't enough. Emma was clapping and swinging her hips and probably couldn't hear Regina over the combination of the pipe music and her own atrociously off-key be-bop accompaniment.

Regina groaned. No one would believe Regina had nothing to do with it if Emma got swept away during her first magical battle against a Piper. She couldn't remember the last time an adult had been lost to a Pied Piper, since they were so far grown away from childish whims, hopes or dreams. But Emma Swan seemed consistently determined to be the exception to everything. She also seemed willing to protect Regina, at least for now. Self-preservation meant Regina had to try a rescue.

She considered her options frantically. If she got involved physically, the children could trample her and cause injury or death. She considered the Siren's Song. The powerful locket, which gave its wearer the melodious captivating voice of the Sirens, was among her few things from the other world not kept in the chamber under her father's crypt. Useless until she had magic, she'd still thought the black pearl gemstone which hung on a heavy golden chain beautiful beyond words. It was in her jewelry box on her bedroom dresser, just as unreachable in this moment.

Regina discarded the idea of using her unreliable magic again; whether a success or failure she was mindful of the excruciating pain and having materialized gasping and on her knees after the transport spell. Defensive spells fell into the easier range of spells, and were among the first she had learned. Battle spells were in an entirely different class. Besides trying to work another spell right now could leave her so weak she'd have no chance for a second try, or be able to escape from either the Piper or the rest of Storybrooke already out for her blood. And no one would believe she'd been trying to use her magic for good if it all went haywire.

_Time to fight fire with fire_, she decided. Watching Emma only getting farther and farther away, Regina took a deep breath and whistled.

That sound caught Emma's attention. Despite the strain she had just undergone to teleport, Regina ran at the blonde, reaching out her arm to grab the woman as she came near. Instead she hit the ground empty-handed and with a body-jarring _oomph_.

Emma had danced out of reach and was laughing at her. "Hey! Wanna dance?" Emma reached down and Regina accepted the helping hand up, taking advantage of the contact to grip Emma's arms and force the woman to meet her gaze.

"Sheriff Swan! Focus!" The harsh snap to her tone drew Emma up short, momentarily blinking and bewildered as she had hoped.

Regina opened her mouth. No words emerged; she didn't know what song to sing. The hesitation cost her. Emma broke free of her grip, and started after the Piper. Regina just started singing, at first just testing her vocal cords with a range of notes, hoping the words would come. She thought about only what she was trying to do and gradually found a few phrases:

_Close your eyes so your heart will listen_  
_Don't give in, fight within, you can break from this prison_  
_The siren's song pulls you further away, away , away_  
_Just hear, hear me say_

Emma's eyes widened and she shook her head. Regina could see the haze caused by the Piper beginning to fade from the blonde's green eyes as the woman stumbled to a halt in confusion.

The Piper changed his tune, the rhythm almost ferocious. Emma's eyes began to turn from Regina again. Regina lunged for the blonde, but the Piper jumped between them. When she went to grab him, emitting an angry snarl at being thwarted, children grabbed her arms. Truly left with only her voice as her weapon, Regina pleaded with Emma:

_I know you're in there, somewhere_  
_so don't you dare to leave_  
_In you I believe too _  
_turn around and stay_  
_where you belong_  
_There's so much more_

The blond head shook and Emma gripped her temples. Her gaze met Regina's as she sang the last phrase.

_so unlock the door and let me reach out to you_

"Regina? What?"

"Let me reach out to you," Regina offered, repeating the last phrase.

Haze-filled dull gray eyes shifted to a sparkling green. "That's beautiful!" Emma said. Regina almost laughed with joy. "Your voice is beautiful!" Emma exclaimed. Regina was shocked to feel her eyes moisten; tremulously she smiled.

In the next moment Emma spun away from Regina and leveled the Pied Piper with a right hook. Having felt that same punch before, Regina sympathetically tongued her cheek as Emma dropped to her knees over the man's back, forcing him to stay down.

"I'll just take this," Emma shoved her knee into his upper arm, removing the pipe from his outstretched hand.

In the next instant she slapped cuffs around the man's hands behind his back. Threat taken care of, Emma took several deep breaths and glanced up to see Regina smiling. "Something funny?"

"I always knew you were a child at heart, Miss Swan."

Emma stuck her tongue out. Regina shook her head, still smiling. Eventually Emma dragged the man to his feet using the elbow of his arm.

Children gathered around them, heads shaking as the spell's effects drained away. Emma and Regina stood in the middle sharing a smile.


	5. Chapter 5

_Disclaimers on Part 1 _

_**Author's Note:**__ Thank you to everyone who continues to follow, favorite and review this story. The comments and thoughts are greatly appreciated! Only two months to go until season 2! __As for my story, now that Emma and Regina have worked together to resolve the Pied Piper problem, where will they go from here? Let's just take a moment, shall we?_

**I Just Need A Moment Part 5**  
by LZClotho

The giddy smile was her whole world for several seconds before Emma realized that it was an unfamiliar sight. Regina never smiled like that, eyes twinkling, cheeks pierced with dimples. It made her seem years younger. The second thing Emma became aware of was the way Regina's hair stuck to her forehead and cheeks, the skin of which was shiny and wet with sweat. The brunette's throat thrummed madly with a rapid pulse. Then the woman shivered. Emma felt the action as if she herself had shaken and it seemed to rattle her tongue loose. "Okay. So that's it. Let's get going."

Regina nodded, but didn't speak. Emma turned to her handcuffed prisoner and asked, "What's your name?"

He looked bewildered at her, but glanced around and then said, "I'm Ostinato. I am, or was, the music teacher here. But this isn't my village." He looked past Emma at Regina and his memory was in perfect working order when he barked, "You, witch! So it did come to pass, the curse! You cast it!" He lunged for her, but came up against Emma pulling on his arms and not allowing him past her shoulder.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Emma interceded firmly. "Calm down."

"You're the Sheriff. Why are you holding me? You should be capturing her."

"You caused a little incident with your pipe. So I'm taking you to cool off." She held it out before him but put it back in her pocket when he went to touch it and shoved him toward the sheriff's cruiser.

"Arrest her!" he insisted. Others around them took up the call, closing around the three of them, her, Regina, and Ostinato.

"C'mon, everyone, let us just get out of the way here, and you can go back to what you were doing."

"We _were_ living our lives peacefully until _she_took them away from us!" said a woman, dressed a lot like Mary Margaret might have been, in a simple flower print dress and cardigan, though she favored greens where Mary Margaret favored muted colors. Emma guessed she was a schoolteacher, too.

"Well, the curse is broken, so you can just..."

"The curse is broken? Then why are we still here? You lie! You're in league with the witch!"

"You made a deal with the witch!" shouted another woman with closely cropped blond hair. Others shouted the same making Emma's head spin for a second.

Regina retorted regally, "You're confusing me with the imp. I wish you'd get it right. _He_ makes the deals. _I _make things happen."

Reflexes sharp, Emma caught the accusatory blond woman's arm swinging in mid-air. "You know," she said as she stared Regina's would-be attacker down. Turning to Regina, she offered some advice, "One of these days your mouth is going to get your teeth kicked in." Emma narrowed her brows at Regina, who had the sense to take a step back.

"Now," Emma announced to the crowd. "We're leaving. Clean up here and get back to...whatever you were doing."

"Who are you to tell us what to do?"

"She's the Savior," said a male voice rushing up. Emma turned to see a lanky man in slacks and a loose cambric shirt running toward them. Leashed and leading the way was Pongo, the man's dalmatian.

Emma sighed with relief at a familiar face. "Archie!"

"Jiminy," he replied. It was firm, but it didn't sound angry.

Emma searched the psychologist's face and nodded. "All right. We're just finishing up here, but I need to get Mr. Ostinato-"

"Just Ostinato," her prisoner retorted.

"Ostinato," Emma repeated, "to the station. He was rounding up children with a pipe."

"A Pied Piper?" Archie seemed amazed. "Excellent work for your first magical fight!" He congratulated with broad joviality. "Congratulations, Emma!"

"I wouldn't have managed without a lot of help," Emma said.

"Of course you would have, you're the Savior."

"Archie!"

"Jiminy," he repeated. "Emma, this is fabulous!"

"She's the Savior?" asked another adult. Emma cast a quick glance, taking in the sight of a man about 45, in gray slacks and a broad belt holding them up around a considerable waist over a canary yellow short-sleeve shirt. He strode toward the crowd with a familiar air. As many times as Emma had visited front offices as a youth, the stern expression on his face identified him to her instantly as the school principal.

Archie - Jiminy - _damn this was going to take some getting used to_, Emma thought. Jiminy smiled at him. Then he stepped back and held his arms wide, talking to the entire crowd. "The curse has been broken. King James and Queen Snow White are working on our way back home as we speak. The woman we have known as our sheriff, Emma Swan, is their daughter of the prophecy, the White Knight." Emma frowned.

Up swelled praises and cheers. Emma breathed a sigh of relief and started guiding Ostinato toward the cruiser once more. Then things got out of hand, again. Several people grabbed Regina. The woman fought back, but she was clearly outmatched. Lunging to grab the brunette, Emma dropped her hold on Ostinato. "Let her go! This isn't how we do things here!"

"Your parents are king and queen. Let's ask them!"

"As Sheriff, I'm the law here," Emma insisted. "Let her go!"

"Emma," Jiminy said in his counseling tone.

"No, Ar-Jiminy," she corrected herself. "She's Henry's mother, and even if that doesn't mean anything to them, it should mean something to you. What would happen to him if something happened to her?"

Jiminy held her gaze in silence. She could see him weighing the information, thinking through the many options and consequences. She gave a relieved quirk of her lips when he nodded. "Give Sheriff Swan the queen," he told the crowd.

Holding Regina by the shoulder tightly enough that the brunette was wincing , the principal argued, "You can't mean that, Jiminy!"

"It's the right thing to do." Emma smiled at the spare man with his earnest expression. "Let her go. The laws here are fair. If the Savior says we should abide by them, then it's the right thing to do."

Regina was roughly shoved at Emma, falling against her as she tripped over her own feet trying to remain upright. Emma caught her around the shoulders and helped her straighten up. She was still looking at Jiminy though. "Ostinato has to come with me, too."

"What's his charge?" Jiminy asked.

"Attempted kidnapping, multiple counts, and disturbing the peace, for starters."

"Pied pipers always work for someone," Regina said.

Jiminy looked at the mayor with a wide-eyed expression, but then he nodded at Emma. "She's right," he said sounding surprised.

"Well, then I need to question him about that."

Jiminy studied Emma for a moment longer. She squared her shoulders, to better look the part of decisive law enforcer. "Sheriff Graham chose well," Jiminy said finally. "Go on. I'll get the guidance counselor here and we'll calm down the school population for you."

Emma smiled. "Thank you." She pulled Ostinato toward her once again. Over her shoulder she said to Regina, "Let's go."

Following a few steps behind to Emma's left, Regina bent down as they near the cruiser, swiping at something on the ground. Emma noticed the movement. "What's that?"

"Just gathering my shoes, Sheriff," Regina's voice was brittle, thready.

"Saw you running. Not bad for a woman who has been behind a desk for 28 years."

"You're welcome, Sheriff." The tone alerted Emma that Regina was angry. She clued in quickly.

"I can't believe it. You're put out that they didn't say thank you?" Emma blew out a breath. "That's why you taunted them."

"It's my nature, dear."

"Well, go with some _un_natural instincts for a while, OK? I can't keep pulling your ass out of the fire."

Regina glowered and slid into the cruiser's passenger side without another word.

Emma protected Ostinato's head with her hand and guided him into the back seat. More to herself than anyone else, she murmured, "Lord, save me from moody mayors."

She lifted up her head as she started to get into the cruiser and noticed Marco wandering through the crowd passing out signs. She caught the detail, realizing he was still looking for his son. Quickly she stepped away from the car and called out, "Jiminy!"

The psychologist – _thank God he wasn't actually a cricket_, Emma thought – looked up from talking with another man built like a weightlifter, and jogged over. "Yes, Emma?"

She gestured toward the distant part of the crowd where the fix-it man was earnestly handing out his flyers. "Tell... Geppetto his son's in Granny's B&B room number 4."

"Really?" Emma nodded. "Geppetto!" Jiminy ran to his old friend; the mustachioed man had looked up at the sound of his name and smiled broadly when he spotted Jiminy. Emma watched them embrace as Jiminy quickly spoke. The two men hurried off in the direction of Granny's, and Emma slid into the driver seat.

"You told him where Pinocchio was," Regina said.

"Yeah, apparently neither... of my parents has yet had the chance. He was still handing out missing person signs."

* * *

After leading Ostinato into the cell at the office, Emma sat down at her desk, toying with the pipe in the evidence bag in front of her. Regina sat in the chair opposite, still looking peaked and damp from her afternoon's exertion. "You know, maybe you should use the locker room shower," Emma said. "I'm sure I've got something you can change into."

"No one will settle for less than a prison jumper," Regina replied.

"Orange not your color?" Emma poked at the prickly woman with a teasing smile. Regina didn't respond. "C'mon. You knew this wasn't going to be easy." She sat up. "Though you took a great first step. I didn't get a chance to say thank you for your help today. So... Thank you."

Regina lifted her chin. "You surprised me."

"I did?"

"Very few adults ever get caught by the Piper's tune."

"You said you always thought of me as childish."

Regina swallowed. "Maybe I was... hasty. You... have grown into your responsibilities."

Emma smiled. "I'll take that as a compliment. Now, what can you tell me about this pipe?"

"Typical Piper's instrument. Dwarf-mined silver, hand-smithed and magicked."

"So did Ostinato have it already from the other world? He couldn't tell me how he got it. I suspect that's a side effect of the haze from overlapping memories."

"No one brought magical things from the other world, except me and..."

"Rumpelstiltskin," Emma stated with insight. "So it must have been in his shop. How did he get it to Ostinato though?"

"How isn't as important as why. Pipers play for pay. So he was working for someone. And he was trying to trap you... Sheriff. I... When I tried to intervene, he ... changed his tune. Got more insistent."

"So Rumpelstiltskin hoped to get me out of the way for some reason?"

"That would be my guess," Regina said.

Emma sat back, twirling the pipe in her fingers, watching its silver surface catch and release the fluorescent lighting in tiny bursts. "Why don't I take you by your place, let you shower and change, and we pay a call on the pawn shop?"

* * *

Stepping out of the cruiser, Emma answered her ringing cell phone. It was James. "Archie tells me you had to deal with a Pied Piper," he said. "I'm proud of you, Emma."

"Yeah, over at the school. The choir teacher went crazy." She found it easier to deal with James if she didn't think of him as her father, just another guy. "I've got him in lock-up and I've impounded the pipe. I'm going to check into how he got hold of it."

Emma watched the street and yard for any unwelcome approaches as Regina opened her front door. She heard it open and followed Regina inside. "See any signs anyone's been here?" Emma asked her. Regina shook her head.

On the cell phone, James queried her non sequitur. "I'm sorry, Emma. What?"

"Sorry, I'm in the middle of something. Hold on." Emma covered the phone. "I'll stay down here, but yell if you find something upstairs."

Regina nodded and started up the stairs. Watching the woman's retreating back, Emma lifted the phone to her ear again. "OK. Go ahead."

James said, "Archie told me you had Regina with you at the school."

"She knows about this stuff."

"You shouldn't be working with her, Emma. What she's done -"

"What she's done she took a step in making up for today by saving my ass from the Piper," Emma retorted. "If it hadn't been for her, I wouldn't be here talking to you. Rumplestiltskin would have me imprisoned someplace."

The other end of the line was silent. Emma got frustrated waiting for a response and closed the phone, slipping it into her pocket with an angry sigh. She glanced up the staircase before sitting down on the bottom steps. The sound of a shower starting drifted to white noise as Emma considered the brunette woman at the heart of all of this mess.

Emma knew she was right to use all the sources of information she could to deal with this new situation. Regina had cast the curse, though she admitted Rumpelstiltskin had created it. As Regina's only gateway to Henry, Emma knew she could count on Regina's assistance as long as it meant contact with Henry. She had no such bargaining chip with Rumpelstiltskin. At this moment that made Regina more useful to her. Emma just wished Regina wasn't so keen on being Regina all the time. Her poke at Emma's parents; her taunt to the principal. The woman just couldn't seem to help herself. She called it her nature. Emma continued to get the sense that Regina's prickly nature was all about covering up some weakness she perceived in herself. She wished she knew what it was.

From Emma's perspective Regina was not weak. Putting herself in danger to draw at least a few people off of Emma had been immensely courageous. Emma hadn't even realized what was happening as the Pied Piper's spell pulled her under. She had a vague recollection of dancing in the street. Then she had a crystal clear memory of Regina's voice filling her ears and pushing away everything else.

_God, the woman could sing_. Emma put her head in her hands and sighed happily recalling the sweet sound. The mayor was full of surprises.

"Sheriff?"

Emma looked over her shoulder up the stairs to see Regina standing on the second floor landing, a hand on the corner of the railing, a towel slipping from her hair into the other. She wore a gray pant suit with a familiar slate blue button blouse. Emma recognized it as the one Henry had "borrowed" from Regina's closet for her last year. She smiled remembering Regina's "enjoy my shirt, because it's all you'll ever get" taunt those many months ago.

She smiled up at the woman now. "Yes, Regina?"

"It's rather late, may I offer you dinner?"

Emma's eyebrows lifted in surprise. "I thought we wanted to get over to Gold's shop?"

"I'm hungry."

Considering how much energy Regina had put out running around, Emma wasn't surprised. She was only surprised to hear the woman admit it.

"Nothing with apples," she said, coming to her feet as Regina started down the steps. She noted the woman wore simple house slippers instead of heels.

"Nothing with apples," Regina confirmed. "I actually think I have enough cold herbed chicken left over to make a chicken salad."

"Then, if I make it through dinner, how about I arrange a meeting with Henry? We need to talk about where he's going to stay."

"This is his home."

"It's not safe for you, Regina, much less him. You already said if people know he's your son, he's in danger."

Regina came to the step just above Emma's and stopped. Her gaze lifted slowly and Emma saw the weight of the woman's thoughts swimming in warm caramel. "Your parents can make it known he's... your son... their grandson."

Emma knew what that statement cost Regina. She could see the defeat and frustration in every line of the woman's face. "And they probably are," she said not unkindly. "But until then-"

Regina's nod cut off Emma's words. She didn't want to press the point. For several heartbeats silence reigned.

Emma broke it by stepping down to the first floor and backing away and gesturing toward the kitchen. "After you."

Entering the kitchen, Regina took off her suit jacket, settling it and the towel over the back of a chair, then she rolled up her sleeves and washed her hands in the sink. Emma followed Regina's example. Opening the refrigerator, Regina pulled out a plastic container. Sliding the cutting board from behind the butcher block, Emma selected a knife. Without a word, but eying the knife, Regina deferred to her and left the container next to Emma on the counter, returning to the refrigerator for the other ingredients for the chicken salad.

It was a rather domestic feeling and Emma found herself relaxing at the end of what had turned out to be one hellishly long day. She looked over once to pass Regina the cut chicken and saw a similar peaceful expression on the brunette's face, dark eyes moving slowly over her tasks, with a faint hint of a smile on dark red lips. And she was humming.

Emma's smile broadened as she recognized it as the tune to the words Regina had sung to her. She started to say something, but in the end, simply listened.


	6. Chapter 6

_Disclaimers on part 1._

_Author's note: I know. I know. Kitchen scene. Not yet. Emma and Regina are still circling each other. But we will revisit this locale in the future. For now, Emma continues gathering clues and Regina struggles._

**I Just Need A Moment part 6**

by LZClotho

"Would you prefer crackers or bread?"

"Sandwich sounds good." After putting two glasses of lemonade in front of adjacent seats a small table in the corner of the Mills' kitchen, Emma had returned to the island where Regina stood, putting the finishing touches on the simple dish. Emma seemed fascinated by the process and Regina wondered if the woman cooked for herself at all. But the blonde's question caught her off guard. "You got paper plates?"

"No. You'll find -"

"No. Seriously? Who doesn't have paper plates?"

"Obviously I do not, or I wouldn't have said -"

"What do you do for picnics and stuff with Henry?"

Regina couldn't keep the resentment out of her voice. "I haven't picnicked with Henry in more than two years." To cover her discomfort she put down the fork she had been using to mix the ingredients and went to the cupboard where her dishes were stored and retrieved two plates herself.

Emma examined the plate Regina handed her with a sandwich on it. Already taking hers to the table, she froze in sitting down when Emma spoke.

"These didn't come from... there, did they?" Regina resisted the urge to roll her eyes. The randomness of Emma Swan's mind was boggling at times.

"What are you talking about?" Regina pulled her seat forward to meet the table.

Emma walked up and put her plate down before pulling out the second whitewashed lattice back wood chair beside Regina. "The dishes. I can't imagine them being from the other world."

"Of course not. Mr. Silver has a store on Moon Street." She picked up half her sandwich and took a small bite.

"How did all this stuff get set up from just one curse?" Emma took a healthy bite of her sandwich. An eyebrow lifted as she chewed. Regina dipped her head and accepted the silent compliment.

After clearing her mouth with a sip of lemonade, Regina said simply, "It was the most powerful curse ever created."

"Must've been. It wiped memories, provided new ones, including specialized skills like for Dr. Whale. It created everything in this town and a barrier to keep everyone affected in and curiosity seekers out." Emma sipped at her lemonade. "It handled a million small details all at once. How long did it take to happen?"

Regina considered the question. "It was about six days between when I finally cast it and I reached White castle with my soldiers to witness Snow's final destruction."

"Trust you to remember the exact details of how you ruin everyone's life," Emma said. "Six days. Biblical. Interesting." She paused, chewing another bit of sandwich and clearing her mouth with a sip of lemonade before continuing. "Was everything exactly as it is now when you... I don't know... arrived here?"

Regina again had to think back. "I... awoke... in my bedroom upstairs."

"Really? So that _was_ a story about finding David... I mean James, on the side of the road?"

"No. That actually happened more or less. Apparently not everyone arrived at the exact same moment. I'd been through most of the town by then, figured out where everyone had come to here, and announced myself as Mayor Regina Mills."

"No one questioned it? You really were mayor as long as anyone can remember." Emma glanced at a clock on the wall which prompted another question. "How exactly did time pass here? I mean everyone notices a frozen clock in a tower, but that can be chalked up to mechanical problems. People had jobs, appointments, places to be, things to do, appointments to keep. There's a rhythm to the day, which causes a natural marking of time, hour to hour. And there's still a sense of 'yesterday', 'today' and 'tomorrow', right?"

"But it all had no beginning and no end."

"Monotony." Emma made a face. "It all just blended together. How did you handle everyone not changing? All their responses being the same each time you talked with them?"

"I seldom talked to them."

"Ah, the anti-social mayor. Right, that fits. Didn't you get bored?"

"I watched them," Regina said. "And I reveled in the knowledge that I had finally succeeded in ruining Snow's happiness the way she had ruined mine. Her Charming, I thought, was dead. She'd never have her true love, just as I would never have mine."

"So when you found Dav – James on the road, why didn't you leave him for dead? How many years had passed when you found him?"

"Only a few days actually."

Emma's eyes sparked with something Regina was coming to understand as insight. She wondered what connections the blonde was making. "So, it wasn't long enough for your anger at Mary Mar – Snow White to cool."

Regina bristled. "My... feelings about... your mother will _never_ cool, Miss Swan."

"So you say. I ask you again, why assure that James lived? Kill him and Snow will not only never know her true love. It would be eye for an eye. Why take away her memory of him even? Wouldn't her pain have been much greater, and your triumph sweeter, if she knew everything you did to her?"

Regina considered the night she had found James. She almost hadn't recognized the lump of snow as a body, but then wind had removed the fresh snowfall on his face. Had she even thought for a moment to let him die? "No." She'd simply called Graham who sent an ambulance and had James delivered as a 'John Doe' to the care of Dr. Whale at the hospital. She signed, accepting responsibility for him, told Whale to call if there was any change in his comatose condition. Then she went home. _No. Wait. _She had gone to the graveyard and visited her father's crypt.

"James was comatose. He wasn't a threat to the curse." She thought of when she had learned that Mary Margaret had begun to volunteer at the hospital. "And it amused me to know _she_ might see him every day without knowing who he was."

"That I'll buy," Emma said. Regina realized the blonde was finishing off the last of her sandwich. "Good sandwich, thanks."

"You're welcome." Regina couldn't hide her surprise.

"Don't sound so surprised. I have manners, too."

"I didn't mean -"

"You assume everyone else has the manners of a pig, but present yours meticulously. Even terrified I might be there to take Henry away, you offered me a drink. You're devious, but no one can ever fault your manners. I'm curious. Did you ever tell Snow how she had hurt you? Why you hated her so much?"

"I did. When I gave her the apple."

"Just before you intended her to sleep forever." The snort was clear in its message.

"Do you dream when you sleep, Miss Swan?"

"Of course."

"The sleeping curse produces endless nightmares born of one's own regrets."

"Nice." Emma's sarcasm was strong. "So, knowing she's in torment, separated from her true love... Made you happy?"

"I was... satisfied," Regina said. "And then Charming broke the spell with true love's kiss."

"And you had to find something else. Something more... permanent." Emma collected the dishes. "But why curse everyone? Why not just her, or just her and James? Why curse all the people?"

"The entire kingdom was aware of the failure of my curse. I couldn't allow that to stand. To be ridiculed."

"Oh. Makes sense." Abruptly Emma changed the subject. "Refill your lemonade?" she asked Regina.

"No. Thank you." Puzzled by the abrupt turn in conversation, Regina followed Emma to the sink.

To her surprise, the blonde cleaned their meager dishes without comment and placed them in the drain rack. Emma accepted a small towel from her when she finished, leaning against the side of the sink to dry her hands.

Regina found herself meeting a surprisingly peaceful green gaze. "What do you think you know?" she asked Emma.

"I know you're ready to see Henry, hmm?" Regina couldn't keep the surprise and alarm from her face. "I told you we would," Emma said.

"You did. I... I'll pack a few clothes for him." She had no confidence that Henry would want to come home with her, or that Snow or James would allow it even if he did. But she wanted him to be comfortable.

"All right."

Upstairs, Regina entered Henry's room and her gaze fell to his bed. Immediately she was catapulted back several hours to the morning and crying here, clutching his pillow to her chest. She looked around now, seeing the things he cherished displayed prominently. Of course The Book was with him, but other things had been set on the shelves and given pride of place. A collection of Berenstain Bears books from the days he allowed her to read a bedtime story stood alongside completed models of cars and planes. Figures of fantasy filled the bailey of a model castle.

She was reaching to pick up a helmeted knight when she heard Emma's voice from the stairs. "Regina! We gotta go. I just got a call that Mary Margaret wants to put Henry to bed." Regina shook her head; the blonde was still using the Storybrooke names for her parents, and many other people, she had noticed, being continually flustered as she sought to communicate with and about them.

Quickly Regina found Henry's overnight bag in the bottom of his closet, pulled his pajamas from the hook on the back of his bedroom door and sorted a set of clothes from his dresser drawers.

She saw Emma at the top of the stairs when she emerged from the bedroom. The blonde didn't look angry, and her words were openly curious. "You all right?"

"Just finding everything," Regina replied quickly as she closed Henry's door. "I haven't been allowed in his room in about a year."

"I never kept anything where my foster families could find it," Emma replied. "Learned that lesson after an older girl took a spelling bee medal I'd won." Emma's expression suggested surprise she had said such a personal thing. "We'd better get going," she said quickly. "I called Arch – Jiminy to meet us at the apartment."

Following Emma down the stairs, Regina asked, "Why?"

"Because I think he can be a fair voice."

Regina remembered the man convincing the school crowd to let her go with Emma. "Do you think they'll listen?" She stopped with her hand on the passenger door handle, looking at Emma across the top of the police cruiser.

"A couple days ago Archie told me without reservation that you'd never hurt Henry."

"But he didn't have his memories then. And I've threatened him before."

"I really think he'll advise what's best for Henry." Emma pulled open her door and slipped inside. Regina reluctantly followed.

* * *

Jiminy was already inside the apartment when Emma unlocked the door to let in her and Regina. He sat at the table next to Henry, both of them consuming cookies and drinking glasses of milk.

Absorbing the sight, Regina hesitated. So it already begins. In earnest, the Charmings and their allies were bribing her son with sweets and no doubt even more stories of her activities in the other world. She would never have a chance to explain how much having him had filled her life with happiness. She didn't realize until that moment how much she wanted that opportunity; to prove she wasn't who she had been. That being here, and having him, had changed her. Emma nudged her forward and she realized she had stopped cold in the doorway. She looked back down the stairs and considered where she could go - where to run. The Blue Fairy had warned her to run and hide. Why wasn't she hiding?

"Regina." Emma's voice drew her gaze to meet green eyes. "Come on."

Standing here in this tiny apartment about to face the judgment of people who held her life in their hands, Regina was not at all sure.

There were footsteps. Then a voice spoke with a steely quality Regina had almost forgotten, having not heard it in almost three decades. "Regina."

Stepping inside further Regina turned to face Snow White. She clutched the handle of Henry's overnight bag more tightly, but resisted the urge to pull it before her chest defensively. Resolutely she held it down by her side. She heard the click of the door behind her in the utter stillness of the room, but her head roared with a din as loud as thunder. Her eyes flit from person to person staring at her, stopping briefly on Henry's impassive face as her heart squeezed painfully. Finally she rested her gaze on the pixie hair of her nemesis. "Snow White," she said, injecting as much disdain as the other woman had in speaking her name.

"Is that for Henry?" Snow asked. Her tone had moderated, not mousy Mary Margaret but not the venom Regina had been expecting from Snow White.

Regina was surprised. Emma moved off her shoulder and she could see the blonde's expression had become a scowl, directed at Snow. _Ah, so the child scolds the parent._ She had witnessed this in the sheriff's office, but it still surprised Regina to see Emma demanding her parents treat Regina with at least courtesy.

"All right. Everyone, table," Emma commanded. She pulled out the nearest seat at the end. Her gaze directed Regina down into it and Regina put the bag next to Henry, who sat in the seat directly to her right. She smiled tremulously at him, but said nothing, even as her gaze consumed his appearance hungrily.

Henry wore a white t-shirt she knew he used as an undershirt. His red plaid button shirt hung over the back of his chair. He looked unharmed, if a little dirty, and she remembered he had been sent to help out at city hall. It was the milk mustache that made her catch her breath though. The sight tugged at her heart, reminding her he was just a boy – her son. If only he wanted that like she did, with all her heart.

Before she could speak to him though, another chair scraped the floor. James had pulled it out, his hand still resting on the back as Snow sat down on Regina's left.

"How is the situation at city hall?" Emma asked James.

"Well in hand. The building's condemned but we got everyone accounted for. The injured were taken to the hospital and the dead -"

"Who's dead?" Regina asked quickly.

James scowled but named names. Fairytale names, people who had been loyal to Regina in both worlds. Not on the level of the Genie but loyal nonetheless. She dropped her gaze to the table top.

"Don't act like you care," Snow interjected.

"They were good people," Regina said.

"Yes, they were Good people," Snow stressed. "You're not."

Regina swallowed. Unable to take it anymore, she stood abruptly.

"Where are you going?" Snow demanded.

"It's clear that you don't wish to talk, so I'll take my leave."

"You're going to tell us how to get back!" Snow ordered.

"I don't know the answer to that question."

"You cast the curse!"

"But I didn't create it," Regina replied. "The way it broke is as much a mystery to me as it is to you." Regina was proud to hear her voice get stronger as she spoke. Her tone grew to sound almost bored - as if she were speaking to a particularly dense child – the longer she acted unafraid. _Fake it until you make it_, she supposed.

She glanced to Henry. A superimposed memory of his frail body covered in monitoring pads assailed her. "Henry," she managed quietly, "sleep well."

She turned away from the table. Emma was practically on top of her. "Sheriff Swan, take me home." Again she was proud of her sharp tone, though her belly felt as if it was being flayed open with a knife, her guts spilling out for all to see.

Emma held her arm. It was between them out of sight of everyone else. Regina started to look at the Sheriff only to be startled by Henry's voice.

"Did you really help Emma defeat a Pied Piper?"

Regina felt Emma squeeze her forearm. This time she did look at the blonde who nodded toward the table. Regina turned and met Henry's gaze. "Yes." She kept to the single syllable, afraid to test her voice any further.

"Why?" His tone was challenging.

Regina felt the answer bubble up honestly as he looked at her with narrow suspicion. "Because you would hate me if I hadn't tried."

Turning away, she pushed away Emma's hand and walked out of the apartment. She sat down in the stairwell, the strain of trying to remain emotionally unaffected smashing through her ability to keep the emotions at bay. Putting her face into her hands, she hid her weakness and cried.

The room behind the closed door erupted into angry voices, yelling what she couldn't tell, but she knew with certainty it was all about what to do with her.


	7. Chapter 7

_Disclaimers on part 1_

_**Author's note:**_ _For the next several chapters, there will be some scenes that may seem visually familiar. Much like the opening chapter, I'm incorporating stills from shooting that have been shared from filming. So you might consider them SEASON 2 SPOILERS. Then again, since nothing has actually aired and I'm just giving my own take on what's happening, you might not. But consider this fair warning/notice._

_Oh, and this is just a tad longer than my usual updates. The action just would not be contained._

**I Just Need A Moment Part 7**

by LZClotho

"Mary Margaret!" Emma yelled as the door closed behind Regina.

"_Don't_ call me that! My name is Snow White, Queen of the Enchanted Forest." The expression on the pixie-haired brunette's face was unfamiliar, sharper, and angrier. Even angrier than when Mary Margaret had called Emma on the carpet for trying to run away with Henry.

"I've never known you to be this cruel!" Emma retorted. "C'mon!"

"You don't know what she's done!"

"I read the book! But I also know that woman loves Henry. She came here because I promised her she could see him!"

"You can't make me stay with her!" Henry yelled.

Emma threshed her fingers through her hair. "Henry, not 48 hours ago when I tried to take you away, you said I couldn't leave! I had to stay. Well, I stayed, and the curse broke. But it didn't do it right, did it?"

"Probably because she almost killed you!" He got up from the table, moving around it, away from her, and stood next to James. The sandy-haired man put a big hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Don't go hiding behind David," Emma said.

"My name is James. Henry's right." Even without the name correction, Emma was forced to acknowledge from the firm tenor in his voice that this was not mild-mannered David. "She's working some plot, duping you," he finished.

"She's a mother!"

"And I'm _your_ mother, Emma!" Snow moved toward Emma, reaching out. Emma backed up a step. "She forced you to grow up alone!"

"You put me in that wardrobe. _Your_ choice!"

"She forced us to it!" James bellowed.

"Fine. Nobody is perfect. If you're so Good, and she's so Evil, explain how you cheated on your wife, and you," she looked at the brunette beside her. "You let him pull you into that."

"She was not my wife! Snow is! That woman..." He stabbed a finger toward the door. "Forced us to live a lie."

"But you were still _you_, right? Good always is good, evil is always evil. No matter the circumstances, right?" Emma plowed on with her strongest argument, thankful she'd gotten Regina to open up over their meal. "At almost any time in the last 28 years she could have killed you. She didn't. Ask yourself why?"

"She had no magic here! Now is when we need to worry about that!" Snow retorted.

"There are many ways to kill a person in this world that never involve magic," Emma said coldly. "But she instead left you alone, and tried only to live a life raising a child, until Henry dragged me here."

"I had to!" Henry shouted.

Snow said, "She stole our memories! She framed me for murder! She told me I deserved it!"

"Her back was to the wall. All she had was threatened. You can't tell me you haven't fought outside the rules when you felt you had no other option. You ran away instead of trusting me to get you out of the situation!"

"Why are you rationalizing everything she's done? She was raising your child!"

"If Regina hadn't adopted Henry he'd have gone into the foster system. More than likely to someone who wouldn't protect him, care for him, or _love_ him as she had done every day for ten years. I could _not_ care for him myself."

"A situation caused by her!"

"I need her help!"

"What for?"

"It's my job – my _destiny _to break the curse and send everyone home, right? We need Regina's help to do that."

"No, we don't! The fairies – "

"You mean the nuns?" Emma scoffed.

"The Blue Fairy is very powerful!"

"The one who lied to you! She let Pinocchio go in the wardrobe first and then lied and said only one could go through?"

"The fairies are our allies!"

"Better check your scorecard. Even they were caught in the curse. So much for being powerful. Regina says Gold – Rumpelstiltskin created the curse."

"He's not someone to trust, Emma!"

"I know! Regina I can negotiate with! She wants time with Henry, in exchange she's helping me."

"You can't leave her alone with Henry!" Snow said.

"She won't hurt him." Emma turned to the psychologist. "Help me out here?"

The ginger-haired man seemed perplexed to be spoken to. "What are you asking, Emma?"

"You told me Regina would never hurt Henry. Anyone else, but not him. Not ever."

"I did. But then Henry fell to the curse."

"God, have none of you ever made a mistake from being so scared you can't see straight? She _helped_ me save him!"

"_You_ saved him with True Love's Kiss!" Snow said. "The Blue Fairy told me Regina had nothing to do with that!"

"Rumpelstiltskin tricked us both! She thought – just as I did – when Gold stole the potion that there was _no_ hope!" Emma turned to Henry. "We _both_ thought you were _dead_! You saw her, you _heard_ her when you woke up! She loves you."

Henry asked, "Then why did she run?"

"Would anyone have let her live? C'mon, you can't be this cruel." She looked around at everyone as she vented. "Even if you don't think she is good, you can't dismiss her feelings like this. Good doesn't work that way! Everyone needs a chance to change. Everyone is worth saving because we're supposed to do the right thing. _I_ need her help."

"I want her under guard," Snow demanded.

"I need her to trust that I'm going to be fair and protect her. You saw her magic ability in the station. Someone with a grudge and a little magic could kill her." Emma shook her head. "We need to extend a little trust to get some back. Right, Ar – I mean, Jiminy?"

"You're certain she has no magic?" Jiminy asked.

"Any time she's tried to use it so far it's fizzled and left her in a cold sweat."

"I could have a fairy examine her," Jiminy told Snow and James. "Maybe if I observe her with Henry?"

Emma knew the psychologist meant he'd be Henry's guard against Regina, but she could live with that, if it got all the pieces where she wanted them to maintain control of this situation.

No one said anything, each looking to others. Emma broke the stalemate. "It's decided then. Henry, Jiminy is taking you to your own bed at home. Snow, you can come with me. I have to see Mr. Gold."

"Why him?"

"I need some answers," Emma stated plainly. "He has them."

"I'll take you," James said.

"No, I don't want a confrontation. Snow and I might be less threatening."

"I'll drive you and Henry then, Jiminy," James said.

Emma shook her head. "I need you to get back to city hall and coordinate with Ruby."

"But – "

"No. We have to _show_ trust," she reiterated. "Jiminy can handle it."

"But Henry's my grandson!"

"And he's my _son_! I wouldn't put him in danger. That's all I've been trying for months to keep him out of!"

"Emma," Henry spoke up, "You don't know her!"

Emma got down on her knees, looking up at him, grasping his shoulders. "I know her better than you think, Henry. I..." She hesitated. She wanted Henry to believe her, to trust her, but the things she'd seen and done in her life growing up... "I see a lot of me in her. Doing the only things she knows how, just to survive." She cupped his chin and kissed his forehead. "Remember my superpower? I need you to trust me. We still need to figure out the rest of what's going on, so we can help everyone. If she doesn't help, I don't have anyplace else to turn."

Henry was silent for a long moment. Finally he said, "I can be the spy in the house. I'll use the walkie talkie."

Emma hung her head. After taking several deep breaths, she lifted her gaze again. With resignation she said, "Fine." Pushing to her feet, she directed Jiminy, "You guys need to get going."

"Where'd Regina go?"

"I'm sure she's just outside. It's not safe for her alone out there and she knows it, so she can't run. I'll get her and explain." Emma went to the door. When she stepped outside, she found Regina exactly where she expected, sitting on the stairs, face turned away from the apartment door. She didn't move when Emma stepped out. "Hey, Regina."

Abruptly, the brunette staggered to her feet. Emma saw the evidence of tears, worn, dark circles under her eyes, and red-rimmed lids even though the woman had tried to wipe them dry. "What has been decided?" Regina asked, trying for a disinterested tone but Emma too easily heard the fear.

"Jiminy is taking you and Henry home."

"Henry?" Regina's bewilderment was easy to read as her eyes flashed wide.

"Yeah. Jiminy's going to consult with the fairies about your magic."

Regina stiffened up at that as she grasped the railing with a firm hand and straightened her clothes. "I haven't needed the help of fairies in my entire life, Miss Swan. I don't intend to start now." A familiar chill had reasserted itself in Regina's voice when she had finished.

Emma didn't laugh, but she'd expected this. She'd have done the same. "Well, if it makes you feel any better, they probably don't want you to get your magic back. I think they'll just verify you're telling the truth. Seems no one trusts you to do that."

"Henry can sleep in his own bed tonight if I agree to this?"

"And so can you." Emma opened the apartment door again. "Don't let me down. I'll go see Rumpelstiltskin like we planned."

"Don't go alone," Regina warned. "He already tricked us once."

"I'm taking ... my mother with me."

"All right." Regina's expression was surprised. Emma couldn't tell if it was because she had acknowledged the warning not to go alone, or that she had actually referred to Snow White as her mother.

Probably both. It still felt weird as hell to her. Leaning back inside the apartment, Emma summoned Henry and Jiminy. "I'm trusting you guys to do the right thing," she said. "We're the good guys, remember. Get to the mansion and all of you get inside. No stops, no one else, until you get one of the fairies to check out Regina. Got it? You," she added to Henry, "call me on the walkie if _any_thing goes wrong."

As Henry looked from Emma to Regina, Emma recognized worry and sadness, but also a just a touch of hope shining in the other woman's brown eyes. Henry looked at Jiminy and apparently came to a decision. Turning back to Regina, he said, "If you're lying about anything, I'm going to tell Emma."

Regina sighed. "Yes, I expect you will."

"All right. Henry. Regina. Let's go." Jiminy put a hand on Henry's shoulder and went to do the same to Regina. However, the brunette stepped out of the way quickly and moved down the steps. He looked down at his hand in surprise, as though it had acted of its own accord. Emma remembered her own inclination to offer a comforting touch to Regina and aborting it at the last second. The woman was such a prickly person. Emma watched Jiminy slowly drop his hand to his side. The gesture reinforced Emma's belief that she was doing the right thing. Jiminy was capable of being fair, even in this debatable situation.

Leaning against the door jamb, her gaze followed the trio until they were out of sight, her stomach twisting nervously. Then she reentered the apartment to collect Snow White for their errand to see Gold – Rumpelstiltskin.

* * *

James would not back down from insisting he drive Emma and Snow to Gold's shop. Emma still made him drive on to city hall, before she told Snow exactly what she expected.

"I need some answers from Rumpelstiltskin," she began. "But we both know he plays on emotions, tries to give us only what he wants us to know. I need more than that. You have to let me doing the talking. He's known you forever. He played you perfectly... about me, about the curse, about everything. Remember that."

"He was going to help defend me against Regina's frame up."

"Was he really? Are you sure?"

Snow looked down pensively at her hands. A tight furrow appeared between her brows. Her gaze was a little less sure when she returned it to Emma's.

"I thought he was an ally once, too. Me becoming sheriff, that was planned by him. First he pointed out the charter language, made it like he was only in it to get Regina's goat. Matched my sentiments exactly at the time. He then orchestrated everything. Right down to knowing that I couldn't leave Regina, no matter how mad I was at her, in a burning building. He knew that would make me a shoe-in with the town. A hero. He also knew I couldn't keep that information to myself when he told me. It wouldn't have made me honorable in Henry's eyes." Emma straightened her clothes. "So, let me do the talking, all right?"

Snow still frowned, but she nodded. Emma pushed open the door to the shop, the tinkling bell announcing their arrival.

They found a young woman with thick ginger hair secured by a blue ribbon standing behind the counter, leaning on the glass and looking at items in the display. Exchanging a look with one another that said, "Who's she?" Emma and Snow approached the counter. "Where's Gold?" Emma asked.

"Hmm?" The young woman looked up. Emma was instantly caught by deep blue eyes meeting hers in bewilderment.

"I'm looking for Mr. Gold," Emma repeated, "who are you?"

"My name is Belle."

"Belle? Where'd you come from?"

"I was locked up in a ward under the hospital. Someone came and let me out, and told me to find Mr. Gold. I didn't know who that was. But I found Rumpelstiltskin." She smiled as the name passed her lips.

Emma recognized the lovesick expression; she'd seen it on Mary Margaret's face and on Ashley's face when each woman talked about her love. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Can you tell us where he is?"

"I'm right here, dearie," said the man in question, stepping from his backroom. "How can I help you, Sheriff Swan?"

The young woman looked Emma over again. Emma answered Gold. "I came here to tell you the favor I owed you is paid in full."

"Really? How so?"

"You lied to me about the potion. I didn't need it to save Henry. You needed it."

"I didn't lie to you about the potion. You are its product. You had to retrieve it. I told you true love was the only thing that could break any curse and save your son. You chose to believe it was the potion and not yourself I was referring to."

"Don't play games with me," Emma leaned across the table. "You _used_ my love for Henry to get something _you_ wanted. So, we're done."

"Hardly, dearie. But you brought your mother with you, I see. Perhaps there is something she wanted to ask me?" He turned his gaze on Snow White. "Your majesty." He sketched a half-bow with a deep dip of his head and his hand over his stomach.

Snow inclined her head, accepting the acknowledgment but, keeping to Emma's request, she said nothing.

"Not talking, dearie? I'd have thought you had a million questions. You have been away from home for such a long time after all." His voice was empathetic, pitying, and slightly mocking. Emma stepped on Snow's foot as she saw the other woman's jaw shift.

"Everyone it seems has both their memories," Emma said to him. "Your doing?"

"Perhaps. Perhaps not." He laughed; it was not a pleasing sound. In fact it made Emma's skin crawl.

"What about the cyclone at city hall?"

"A cyclone, really? What a strange weather phenomenon for Maine, don't you think, Sheriff?"

"Lots of strange things are happening. People are getting hurt," Snow said. "Where were you when the curse broke?"

Rumpelstiltskin appeared pleased he'd finally gotten Snow White to talk. "Belle and I had gone for a walk. She needed the fresh air after what _her majesty_ put her through." Emma recognized the touch of a sneer and found it reassuring. Rumpelstiltskin and Regina were not likely to ally any time soon if he considered the imprisonment of this young woman as a betrayal by the former mayor.

"Belle?" Emma looked at the young woman next to him, her hand tucked into his elbow. "You're not familiar with Storybrooke, right?"

The young woman's blue eyes met hers. "Sheriff?"

"Can you describe where you and... Rumpelstiltskin went on your walk?"

"It was someplace in the forest very pretty. There was a well." Belle stopped talking and glanced at Rumpelstiltskin.

Emma saw out of the corner of her eye as Snow reacted, and she saw Rumpelstiltskin hesitate in his stroking of Belle's hand at his elbow. It was so brief she might have missed it in almost any other circumstances. Keeping her face impassive, she realized she had guessed right. This Belle was a young innocent and Rumpelstiltskin didn't want negativity around her.

Since it suited Emma's purposes to keep him off-balance, she smiled at Belle warmly. "Sounds like a nice walk. I'm sure you had a lovely time. Rumpelstiltskin," she said, "I appreciate your... helpfulness."

"Ah, Sheriff. Anytime. Come again soon."

She didn't look back as she steered Snow out the door.

* * *

"He did go to the well!" Snow said as soon as they were outside.

"Regina was telling the truth."

"So what do we do now? Knowing how magic got here doesn't really solve the problem."

"If he brought magic here, either he knew that the curse wouldn't send everyone home when it broke, or magic is needed to actually do that." Emma hesitated. "Or..."

"Or?"

"Or he needs magic in order to do something else."

"But if magic came back for everyone, then how does that help him? He won't have an advantage."

"Regina said magic is unpredictable here. She's certainly having a hard time using it. Maybe he was expecting to be the only one to be able to use it."

Snow looked around. "Where do we go next?"

"We need to find out what his agenda is." Emma walked across the street, headed for Granny's Diner. Both the older and younger woman stood outside next to the diner's sign advertising the bar's evening specials. Ruby had another folded A-sign under her left arm. Granny's eyes widened as she saw Emma and Snow. When she grabbed her granddaughter's arm, Ruby turned to follow her gaze.

"Snow!"

"Red!"

Emma found herself standing next to Granny as the other two women embraced. The older woman's eyes were glassy with unshed tears as she put her hands to her face. "Your majesty!"

"Snow, please, Granny," the brunette said. "It's so good to really see you!"

"So, Henry was right. You're Red Riding Hood?" Emma asked Ruby.

Ruby nodded. Then she seemed to realize who she was actually nodding at. "Emma!" She looked at Snow. "It really is baby Emma. She did it!"

"She did, Red, she came back and saved us, just like the prophecy said she would." Snow went to grasp Emma's hand, but Emma pulled back.

"Bet the Evil Queen is having a bitch fest about that," Red said. Emma stiffened. "Hey, Em," Red said, sounding a lot more like Ruby. "You okay?"

"It's been a long day," Emma replied noncommittally.

"I can't believe I've been serving hot cocoa to the Savior all this time," Red said. "And I got to work with you! You know, me and your mother were thick as thieves in the Enchanted Forest. We tracked and hunted, and messed with the Evil Queen's plans every chance we got."

"I know. I read the book," Emma said. "But here and now, I need my deputy again. Can I ask you to go back over to city hall and help Dav – my father with the mess over there?"

"Sure thing! That all?"

"For now. There's little magic disasters all over town, and I've got to get a handle on them before I can figure out what to do next."

"Gotcha. You can count on me." She stepped down to the curb. "Love these wheels," she said loudly and laughed as she got into her red sportscar and drove away. _Obviously some people could still be happy about still being here rather than there_, Emma thought.

Granny grasped Snow's hands. "Anything I can do for you?"

Snow shook her head. "Help out anyone who comes here. I'm going with Emma. We're going to figure out what's going on and try to find the way home."

"All right." Granny and Snow hugged. Granny stepped back and looked at Emma. "I hope you find where the Evil Queen is hiding and end this."

"Um, right. Yeah."

"I'd better get back inside," Granny said.

Snow spoke quietly, voice pained, when they were walking away from the diner. "Emma, why won't you let me touch you? I miss you."

Emma dropped her head and put her hands in her pockets. "I miss Mary Margaret," she said quietly.

"You can't mean that."

"You were my best friend. Now I don't know who you are."

"I'm your mother."

"You're only old enough to be my sister!" Emma retorted. "And you used to be understanding. Caring. You even made me question my approach to Regina a time or two."

"I didn't know who she was."

"But you were right! You were good. Now? All I see is anger."

"But what she did to everyone, to us, to you... I have a right to be angry!"

"Then you're no better than she is." Snow's mouth fell open at the accusation. Emma turned her face away as they stopped on the sidewalk.

"Good afternoon, ladies."

Emma and Snow turned at the corner of an alleyway to see Jefferson standing in the building's shadow, a large familiar top hat grasped firmly in both hands and the same twisted joy on his face that they'd encountered in his home. Emma was leaping in front of Snow at the same time the man threw the hat to the ground.


	8. Chapter 8

**I Just Need A Moment 8**

Manners. Regina Mills had learned that manners could cover all kinds of feelings towards others. She'd relied on her most formal manners to survive after Daniel's death, faced daily with both her mother's cackling and young Snow's cloying. It had become a way to get through the days while only occasionally succumbing to the beast of devastation tearing holes in her chest. She had fallen on them again in earnest when Henry brought Emma Swan to Storybrooke, once again protecting her heart from the claws of the beast.

Emma had pushed her buttons, but at the same time, since the curse broke she seemed to respect Regina for the way she had chosen to protect herself. Listening to Emma over the last day while the blonde dealt with her parents and other citizens in Storybrooke, Regina realized the blonde's respect was born from having a similar defense mechanism.

Sitting now in her living room with Jiminy nervously perched on the sofa, as though he was once again the cricket of the other world, while she sat in the lone chair near the fireplace, Regina wished the blonde was here now. Henry had disappeared ten minutes ago to wash up and change clothes for bed. She wanted desperately to see him, talk to him, and show him how she felt, but with Jiminy here, she was obliged to play hostess. At least it kept her mind off the forthcoming meeting.

So far he had turned down a glass of cider and a glass of lemonade. _Water? No._ So they'd fallen silent. Regina clasped and unclasped her hands on her crossed knee.

The sound of the front doorbell sent her springing to her feet. Despite knowing it was probably the guest she didn't want, she found herself wishing it was Emma back from talking with Rumpelstiltskin.

"I'll be right back," she said, sparing the lean man a tight smile. Instead he stood up and followed her. Regina opened her front door and found the Mother Superior standing on her front stoop. No, this wasn't the Mother Superior. It was the Blue Fairy; her gaze was more incisive than the false identity the curse had placed on her. Regina had no idea how to greet her. The Blue Fairy was someone with a long history with Rumpelstiltskin, not her.

The woman with the light brown hair and the simple blue cardigan over her even simpler blue frock dress looked calmly at Regina and said, "May I come in?"

Relying on her manners to hold herself together even as her heart raced, Regina took a step back and gestured her guest inside. "Come in. May I offer you something to drink?"

Regina was startled when the Blue Fairy stopped next to her, lifted her chin, and looked up into her face. "You didn't run very far to hide, your majesty."

For some reason, Regina saw Emma in her mind's eye, smiling at her. It gave her courage. _How odd._ "I won't hide."

"Jiminy tells me the Savior sent you here with her son."

"Henry is _my_ son!" Regina retorted. "I may have nothing left, of my power, or my magic, but he will always be my son! I can – and will – protect him."

"For what reason would he need protection? He's the son of the Savior. No one will harm him."

Regina closed her eyes. She and Emma had this conversation. With an exhale she opened her eyes and met the fairy's blue gaze. "But they also know I love him. They could harm him simply because he is important to me."

"Love, your majesty?"

"I don't need to convince you of my feelings," Regina replied caustically. "I need to convince Henry."

"You'll have to convince me as well," the Blue Fairy replied. "That's why I'm here."

"You're here to verify I have no control over magic," Regina retorted. "I will not put on some hapless emotional display for you."

"Jiminy?" The Blue Fairy turned to the ginger-haired man with questioning eyes.

"We came directly here from the apartment Emma shares with Snow."

"No trouble?"

"None."

Regina was startled when the petite woman reached out and grasped her forearm. "Regina Mills, the source of your magic has been the void in your soul. You cultivated it. You nourished it with hatred and vengeance for an age beyond measure."

"And when I came here I gave it all up." Regina's retort was sharp, but again in her mind's eye she saw Emma nodding. _What the hell was going on?_ "All I wanted was my happy ending."

The fairy's grip on Regina's wrist shifted, but didn't release. Regina stared at narrow fingers slipping over her pulse point.

"Your blood remains hot," the Blue Fairy pronounced. "And your..." The woman glanced at her own hand. She said nothing for the longest time, which admittedly scared Regina. She started to pull her arm back, but the Blue Fairy's grip tightened. "You have used magic since it came here."

"I managed to put the ward on the house," Regina said. "But I couldn't do anything more than a minor manifestation at the sheriff's office."

"You've done something else though." It wasn't said with accusation, more like an invitation.

Regina hesitated. "I... I don't know why it worked, but I needed to get Emma away from the pied piper and I got a transport spell to work so I could get close enough to her." She recalled how weak, tired, and covered in sweat she had been afterward and pursed her lips. "I don't know that I could do it again."

The Blue Fairy tilted her head and dropped Regina's hand. "You may yet regain full control of magic, your majesty. What would you do with it?"

Regina replied automatically, "Defend what is important to me, as I always have. No thanks to you or any of the fairies."

"What is important to you?"

"Henry is all that matters to me."

"Is he?"

Regina's brow knitted tightly. "Of course."

"If you had magic right now, would you attempt to strike me down?"

"Only if you tried to take Henry. This is his home."

"What if I were to magically bind you and imprison you?"

"Emma promised if I helped."

"Emma is not here now."

"So you would break a promise your Savior made." Regina put every ounce of contempt she could muster into her words, making them a statement.

"No one to be trusted. Isn't that right?"

"It's why I've always had to take care of myself," Regina retorted.

"Then why do you trust Emma Swan?"

Regina had no answer for that. She remembered Emma's hand on hers when the mob had rushed them in the sheriff's cruiser. Emma had sounded so earnest when she surmised magic had been no friend to Regina. Something inside Regina rebelled at the thought – no magic? Just how would she survive? – but something deeper, some other part felt... touched for the first time in perhaps a lifetime. Was it true? She turned away from the Blue Fairy, running her fingers through her hair as she wrestled with her thoughts.

The sound of feet on the stairs interrupted her ponder. She turned to see Henry leaping down, taking several steps at a time. He was barefoot wearing loose long-legged pajamas. She started to open her mouth to warn him to be careful when his bare heel caught in the back of his cotton pants and then on the carpet. A flash of him doing the same about age four went through her mind. With a cry of alarm, Regina rushed forward toward the foot of the staircase, her hands out to catch him. Suddenly he stopped falling. He was nearly horizontal, his head inches from Regina's and he was wide-eyed, a silent, crackling field of energy - magical energy - held him in its grasp, several feet above the steps. No longer tripping, no longer falling. He was no longer moving at all. Regina rounded an angry glare at the Blue Fairy. "Let go of my son!"

"Henry will be fine," the Blue Fairy said calmly.

And Regina remembered the magical being had just saved him. Biting her lip then releasing a sigh, Regina resorted to her manners once again to cover the tangle of emotions she couldn't even begin to sort. "Henry, this is the Blue Fairy." She gestured between them and stepped back.

With a gentle turn of her wrist, the Blue Fairy lowered Henry safely to the first floor. When both his feet touched down, she closed her hand and the field vanished. Regina's hand touched Henry's shoulder but he pushed it off as he regained his balance. He only had eyes for the fairy.

"Hello, Henry," said the Blue Fairy. "I understand we have you to thank for bringing the Savior to Storybrooke."

"From the book Miss Blan – Snow White gave me!" Regina's heart squeezed at the excitement in his voice.

"Mmm hmmm. May I have it back?" the fairy asked.

Henry had not even registered the question completely before he was nodding emphatically and running back up the stairs to fetch the book.

Regina however had heard and understood. "Back? _You _were responsible for Henry getting the book? How?" She clenched and unclenched her hands, but stiffened her feet so she didn't launch herself at the woman while she felt the need to do so tear at her stomach.

"The book was placed among Snow's possessions before the curse was cast." The woman paused before adding, "I trusted Fate to see to the rest."

"My son _hates_ me because of that damned book," Regina barked, uncaring now that her anger showed.

The Blue Fairy's response though left Regina's tongue dead in her mouth. "Jiminy and I will leave you with Henry, for tonight. I will consult with the Savior tomorrow. But act with awareness of the consequences, Regina Mills. What you choose to do with magic here in Storybrooke may yet rewrite your story."

Regina was standing alone in the foyer of her home, staring at the closed door when Henry ran back down the stairs.

"Where'd they go?" he asked.

"They left." To her own ears, she sounded stunned.

"I thought she wanted the book."

_The book._ Rewrite her story. Regina's mind spun. _Was it possible?_ In a quiet voice to counterpoint the cacophony of the thoughts in her head, she asked, "Would you read me my story from your book?"

When he didn't respond, but also didn't move off, she chanced looking toward him. Henry's cherubic face revealed a puzzled frown. Seeing it brought a lump to her throat. He held the book to his chest, almost protectively. "You know you're the Evil Queen."

"I wasn't always." She turned to the stairs and grasped the railing. Without looking at him she said, "Emma will be back in the morning. I know there's been a lot of excitement, but you should probably try to get some sleep. I'll... I am going up to bed."

She was on the third step when he spoke. "Mom?" She couldn't tell if the uncertainty she heard in his voice was from being reluctant to call her that, or because he didn't know if he wanted to ask whatever question was coming next.

"Yes, Henry?" She half turned to him.

"Why didn't we all go back to the Enchanted Forest when Emma broke the curse?"

"I don't know." She considered how she felt the moment she realized Emma had revived Henry and the curse had also broken. She met his eyes as directly as possible, searching the swirling color for a sign of ... she didn't know. She pressed on with her thoughts. "But I am glad she did. I love you, Henry. Sleep well."

She felt Henry's gaze follow her up the stairs, every one of the steps she took echoing in her ears in the silence.

* * *

The walkie talkie on Henry's bedside table crackled to life. "Emma? Hello?"

Henry shot up and grabbed the radio. "Ruby?"

"Henry?"

"Yeah."

"I thought this was Emma's walkie?"

"We use it to talk. What's up?" He rubbed his eyes and glanced at his bedside clock to see that it was nearly six in the morning. Surprised he had slept so heavily in the Evil Queen's house, he glanced toward his bedroom door and let out a breath when it saw it was still closed. He slipped off the bed and checked the knob. Still locked.

Not that it would keep the Evil Queen out if she had magic. That still puzzled Henry. He had been so sure that she had lied to Emma, but the Blue Fairy and Jiminy Cricket had both left him with her. So she must really not have magic.

First the curse didn't send them all back, and now, even with magic here – he remembered the feeling of the Blue Fairy's catch as he fell down the stairs, like being caught in a warm blanket – the Evil Queen didn't have magic. Something was wrong.

He realized Ruby hadn't responded to his question when he got back onto the bed. "Hey, Ruby, you still there?"

"Yeah, just trying to find Emma."

"She and Mar – Snow White went to see Mr. Gold last night."

"We had someone watching the pawn shop since midnight," Ruby said. "They're not there."

"Maybe they went back to the apartment. But they're coming to get me this morning."

"Oh, okay. When you see her tell her to call me?"

"I can get her." Henry was already pulling off his pajama shirt and searching through his drawers for a t-shirt.

"We've got lots of people handling that, kiddo."

"I wanna look, too," he insisted.

"Emma is gonna kill me for opening my mouth," Ruby muttered.

"I'm coming to help. Over and out." He stuffed the walkie talkie into his backpack and ran to the door. No. Not a good idea. He'd have to get past the Evil Queen. He looked around his room, seeing the morning light faintly piercing his curtains. The window! He'd need rope or something.

He pulled off his sheets and knotted two of the corners together. This was the second floor, so that wouldn't be long enough. He grabbed the spare sheet set from the drawer under his bed, and knotted those together with the other two. That would probably get him far enough.

He shoved up the window pane and pushed out the screen. What could he tie his sheet ladder to?

* * *

When the sunrise began splashing golden streaks over the duvet covering her queen-sized bed, Regina still sat on the chaise in her bedroom. Her book of spells, a silver-leaf hand-bound leather book with vellum pages, lay open on her lap. It had taken her nearly half the night of reading pages she used to know by heart, to accept the fact that the Blue Fairy was right. Half her problem with magic use was its source was a void in her heart that had begun, not with the casting of the curse as Maleficent warned - how naive her friend had been – but with Daniel's death. Without even realizing it, she had refilled her heart in this magic-less world... With Henry. There were still spaces unfilled: she was even beginning to see them when she closed her eyes and brought forth the aura map of her own soul. Each was painful to the touch, and magic burst forth uncontrolled when she tried to explore their shape and size. The unpredictability of magic in this new world – that had sent a cyclone into city hall, and caused an out of control beanstalk to erupt through a city street – explained the rest. The wood of her chaise's frame had been scorched, and there was a burn mark on the otherwise pristine white carpet in testament to the (literal) misfires. She had mopped up two puddles from spontaneous water spouts to put out the fires. The breeze she'd tried to bring to dry the puddles had blown over her two bedside lamps.

Now she felt something else, something new within her, a new source. She had thought again of the moment she'd seen Henry sit up in the hospital bed next to Emma. Swamped anew with relief and happiness that he was alive, and even safe here tonight with her thanks to Emma, she had smiled. It all had felt like squinting into a sudden burst of light in the darkness - and the storm candle she kept by her bedside had sparked to life, its flame growing brighter as she stared at it in amazement.

Trying to keep hold of the same emotion, she had tried moving things around her room - a hair brush, a footlocker. The mirror on her wall crashed to the ground though. She had thought of Sidney - the Genie. She had locked him in the basement hospital ward alongside Belle. But then she had seen Belle standing with Rumple at the well in her vision. Was Sidney out? Did he have access to magic? Was he angry with her? Would he turn against her? Guilt at her actions tasted acrid in her mouth.

She was getting to her feet to fetch the dustpan and broom when she heard thumps against the house. Her eyes flew to the door, thinking of Henry's safety.

"Henry?" She called cautiously toward the hallway. She was certain she heard more thumps against the outside of the house. Fear that those angry with her had come to threaten herself and Henry drove Regina to the bedroom across the way. "Henry?" She tried the knob and found it locked. She rattled the tumblers debating with herself. He didn't want her in his space. Hadn't wanted that for more than a year now.

A door made by ordinary carpenter's hands didn't call for magic to break it down. But she didn't want to scare Henry just to assure he was safe. Could she do it?

Sweat broke out on her brow, but focusing on her concern for her son, Regina finally felt the knob turn slowly, tumblers slipping out of the way. She pushed the door inward. "Henry?"

The smells of nature, grass and trees, jerked her gaze to the window, and she saw the curtains fluttering in the breeze. A sheet tied to the leg of his desk snaked out the opening.

"Henry!" Rushing to the window, she planted her hands on the ledge, pushing her head through the screen-less opening.

Backpack weighing down his back, Henry was kicking at the siding and jerking his head up to see her. The counterpoint forces tore his grip from the sheets.

She snapped her hand into motion. "I've got you!"

His eyes were wide and his scream of fear at falling was abruptly cut off. "No!"

"Henry, it's okay. Hold on, I'll – "

"Let me go!" He thrashed against the invisible force, what she knew felt like the only thing she could think of in a split second, a big net. His hands and legs kept falling through the spaces between the gnarled ropes. But once manifest, she couldn't change the result. She'd have to make it disappear and form something else. Right now she didn't trust the whole process enough to believe she wouldn't send him crashing to the ground anyway.

"Please," she pleaded with her son. "Don't struggle. I could still drop you."

"Let me go!" he demanded. His cheeks were vividly colored red, and his brows had drawn down, while his lips set in a stubborn line.

"Wait, please. Where are you going?"

"I'm going to find Emma! And Snow White! I know you did something to them."

"Emma went to talk to Gold. We both saw her go, with Snow, last night."

"You hate them. You hate Snow! You tried to kill her. You tried to kill Emma! You hate that she's the Savior!"

"She saved you, Henry. I... I can't hate Emma." She was afraid of the power the young woman could wield in this new reality, but Regina could admit she didn't hate her. She didn't know exactly what she felt about the woman after everything that had transpired, but it wasn't hate. She thought of the awe she'd felt watching Emma defending her to Snow and James. No, definitely not hate.

Henry yelled at her again. "So where is she? Ruby called and said Emma and Snow are missing."

"Ruby called the house?" Why hadn't she heard?

"No, on the walkie. Emma gave it to her."

"Where's the radio?" she asked Henry.

"I have it. In my backpack."

"Where's Ruby?"

"I won't tell you. You'll just punish her."

"Henry, I swear I will not hurt Ruby. Now, where has she already looked?"

"Everywhere. She says everyone's watched, and no one has seen them all night."

"Did they make it to Gold's shop?"

"Ruby doesn't know."

Regina exhaled. If Emma and Snow didn't make it to Gold's shop, she had to find out what was going on. "Okay, Henry. I'm going to put you down, all right?" Focusing intensely enough that she felt the blood throbbing in her temple and the sweat tasted salty on her upper lip, she let the magic trickle from her fingers. The result was Henry making a slow descent to the ground. His feet set down in the garden under the window. With a quick inhale she opened her fingers and willed the magic to dissipate. The invisible net around him vanished.

Leaning hard on the windowsill she watched him run away down the street, still trying to decide what to do.


	9. Chapter 9

___**Author's note: **__I apologize for such a long delay in continuing to update this story. And this part is shorter than previous parts. I am slowly getting into a groove with my new teaching position. However, while weekends are better for writing again, I am producing only a thousand or so words each weekend, so it is very slow. I hope to be more productive as the regularity settles my muse's nerves._

___**Disclaimers: **__For all story disclaimers, see Chapter 1._

___**In this part:**__ Regina goes to see Rumple, Emma and Mary Margaret find out where they are, and Regina faces another mob._

**I Just Need a Moment**

**Chapter 9**

Thank God, she'd never trusted him. Regina had a defensive spell already forming when she opened the door to Gold's Pawn Shop. Still, the magic force wave that hit her shoved her into one of the many display cases. Brushing her dark hair from her eyes, she saw him draw back his cane to issue another blow and managed to throw her own wave, knocking it from his hand.

He grimly smiled. She thought she had come to understand Rumpelstiltskin's every mood over the years, but as Gold he continued to surprise her. His outstretched hand twitched. Regina felt invisible tethers start tugging on her body. Closing her eyes briefly, she thought only of her mission and Henry. The sensation faded.

"I'd heard you were having a bit of trouble with magic, Your Majesty." He sounded just a bit miffed; that made her own lips twitch into a grim smile.

"I'm getting the hang of it." She stood and dusted her clothing straight. "You did this with the potion you stole from Emma, didn't you?" He shrugged, but the twinkle in his eyes said otherwise. "I should kill you for endangering Henry like that," she growled.

"You endangered him, dearie, not me."

She ignored the jibe. "What if Maleficent had killed Emma?"

"The curse would've broken, of course."

Regina leaned hard on the counter separating them, wishing she could jump across it and smack his face. "And Henry would've died."

Rumple twisted his lips into another smile. She caught a glimpse of the gold-green tinged imp he'd once been behind the facade of the dapper Mr. Gold. "Not necessarily."

"Magic's unpredictable!"

"You merely have to be more decisive in controlling it. Dearie." He backhanded the air between them. The magic wave caught Regina off guard and she tumbled heels over head, before she landed dazed in a heap on the floor against the far counter. Rumple strode into the open space, coming toward her. She struggled to her feet, hands raised, poised to issue a warding spell.

"Your trouble... your majesty? You're still afraid of your power." He lifted his cane. She felt her arms lift without her control._A marionette spell!_

She was dragged to her feet, barely balanced. But he wasn't apparently out to kill her. Her body was danced toward the door as he continued to speak.

"I'm not."

"What do you intend to do?" she asked. After all, she had little recourse. She barely felt the floor beneath her toes. He would drop her in another moment or throw her against a wall. A little mild ego stroking might get a bit of information. "Emma was here last night. With Snow. What did you do with them?"

"I don't need them anymore," he replied with a dark laugh. "Get out. And don't return. I should kill you for what you did to Belle."

Before she could fully wonder why he would stop short of killing her, Regina found herself flung toward the front of the store. Just before she slammed into the door, she felt the tethering sensation vanish and she flung her hands outward to cushion her landing. The glass in the panes jangled and the wood door rattled in the frame, matching her shaking nerves as she regained her footing.

Without a backward glance at the imp, Regina took a deep breath and let herself out. He had just ably demonstrated his upper hand. The only way to beat him was to know his plans and be prepared. But she had discovered only that he would not kill her, and yet apparently, despite needing Emma to break the curse for his own ends, he also had no longer needed or wanted the blond woman to remain in Storybrooke. Distracted as she replayed every detail of their fight, including Rumple's expressions and words, Regina didn't hear the approaching footfalls until a blur bounced past her. Another heavy figure barreled into her, bowling them both over right off the curb and into the street.

She sighed as she picked herself up slowly from the ground again. At this rate she was going to be covered in bruises.

"Regina!" The man she'd come to call David, Snow's shepherd-turned-prince, gripped her arms painfully hard, scowling at her. She was so taken aback she didn't immediately push his touch away. "What are you doing here? Where are my wife and daughter?"

She tossed an angry glare toward the shop. "I was just talking to him about that." She turned back to James. "Who were you chasing?"

"A man Red saw skulking in an alley where she'd last seen Emma and Snow."

"Who?"

"Someone called Jefferson."

Regina looked at Rumple's shop. Everything he said now made sense to her. He knew Belle was alive; he knew what Regina had done to her. Jefferson had to be responsible. The Hatter had been able to watch everything going on in town the last 28 years. Apparently he had freed Belle and sent her to Rumple. Jefferson couldn't bring himself to kill Regina and thought Rumple would. Yet, Rumple had refrained from killing her. Why? What she told James though was, "You may be right."

"Right about what? What do you know about this?"

"I don't. Not for certain. But Rumple has something that I'd been keeping from him. There's only one person who could have given it to him."

"But why would Rumpelstiltskin take Emma or Snow?"

"Emma was a threat because she knows what he did. He already tried to get rid of her once with the Pied Piper yesterday. This time it seems he succeeded."

"Why should I believe anything you say?"

"Maybe you shouldn't. But Emma was my only protection. I wouldn't see her come to harm."

"You tried to poison her, just as you did Snow!"

Regina nodded. "I did." She shook her head. "I was wrong." Looking around, she asked, "If you're here, where's Henry?"

"I left Henry with Red." Regina ran to her car. "Where are you going?" James shouted after her.

"To get Henry."

"Don't run, Regina. Henry's my grandson. You're not taking any more of my family!"

"Find Jefferson. Get the hat! Meet me at the graveyard." Regina gunned her engine and sped off toward Granny's Diner, hoping Henry would come with her when she explained the plan.

* * *

Pain registering in Emma's back woke her up abruptly. "Shit." She bumped into something and sat up. Turning to look at the solid object against her thigh, she recognized Mary Margaret. Sprawled unnaturally, with her head turned aside, arms and legs akimbo, the woman was asleep or unconscious, or... Gingerly Emma pressed four fingers against the side of the woman's exposed throat. Feeling a slightly erratic and timid tempo she nevertheless exhaled in relief.

"Hey, wake up." She shook Mary Margaret's shoulder. The brunette groaned and rolled over, her face bumping into Emma's thigh. Mary Margaret righted herself accompanied by several grunts as she sorted out no doubt battered muscles.

Silence reigned between the women as they both looked around at the rough rock walls. They appeared to be in a cave. Emma was reminded of the cave where she'd faced the dragon under Storybrooke. That, she decided with a shiver, was not a memory she wished to revisit right now.

"Any idea where we are?" she asked instead. On the one hand, she hoped it _was_the cave under Storybrooke and not, well, someplace else.

"Jefferson claimed he was the Mad Hatter, so if he was, and if he got the hat working, this could be Wonderland."

"This doesn't exactly look like a rabbit hole," Emma murmured. She then shook her head, a now common reaction to dealing with the fantasy information thrown at her near constantly since the curse had broken.

Mary Margaret got to her feet and leaned against the stone wall to dust her clothes with the other hand.

Light appeared to be trickling in from several small cracks in the top of the tunnel where they had landed. It wasn't much to see by, but at least they weren't in total darkness.

"There has to be an exit." Mary Margaret looked around, decisively chose a direction in the tunnel, and started walking.

Emma had no choice but to follow. She took off her jacket, shook it out and put it back on over her black tank top as they went. The brief moment of bare skin told her the temperature of the cave was just shy of comfortable.

Listening to their slightly out of sync footfalls echoing against the stone surface, Emma tried to ignore the fact that Mary Margaret kept stealing glances at her, lines deepening on her face, as they continued to walk side by side. Finally Emma stopped and demanded, "What?"

"You're so beautiful," Mary Margaret said quietly. "I missed seeing all the changes as you grew up, and it... hurts."

"Yeah, it hurt me, too," Emma retorted.

"You know why we had to do it, Emma. The curse –"

"Yeah, the curse. Because of it I spent 28 years _alone_."

"But if we'd kept you, you would have been cursed, too."

Emma remembered Granny and Ruby. Even though they hadn't known each other's true selves, they had been side by side all this time caring for each other. This colored her tone with resentment when she responded.

"At least we would have been together. Which curse is worse?" Emma shook her head and walked away from Mary Margaret, continuing in the direction they had chosen. Behind her she heard a soft huff, and then hurried footsteps before she saw out of the corner of her eye that Mary Margaret caught up to her.

"I... Emma, I'm sorry."

Emma continued to stalk forward. "Let's just get out of here, all right? I want to get back to Henry." She rounded a bend in the tunnel and had to hold up a hand to block her face against the flood of sunlight.

Mary Margaret went to the opening and, hugging the wall, she looked outside. She gasped in clear surprise. "We're home!"

"What?" Emma was aware of hope beating hard in her chest as she stumbled toward the opening. But her heart plummeted to her gut as she took in a forested valley. Mary Margaret was pointing. "This isn't –"

"It's the Enchanted Forest!" Mary Margaret rushed forward into the full sunlight.

Emma followed, picking her way among the plants lushly covering the ground. Mary Margaret turned a half circle and then stumbled backward. Emma caught her by the arms before she could fall down the incline. There was a look of horror on the woman's face that suggested she hadn't tripped over anything physical.

"What?" Emma turned around to see what had frightened Mary Margaret, her hand immediately going to her holstered gun. But her hand froze and she gasped instead.

The cavern from which they had emerged lay underneath a vast plain of torn and charred land. The ground was cracked and dried, barren, like a lake bed baked by desert sun and wind.

"Oh my god," Mary Margaret whispered, devastation filling her voice.

"This is what the curse did?" Dry-mouthed, Emma gaped at what could only be described as carnage akin to post-apocalyptic movie effects.

"White Castle used to stand there." Mary Margaret pointed at a crumbling cliff in the distance. A stone bridge that might have once led to the castle bailey was nothing more than a series of crumbled pillars reaching skyward to nothing.

The brunette turned back to the lush area they'd first seen. "But this... Not everything. There has to be ..."

"If this way through the tunnel led here, let's go back and find the other end of the tunnel," Emma suggested, already backing up. "That has to be the way home, right?"

"We _are_home, Emma." The wonder and happiness in the woman's voice set Emma's heart racing.

"This is not Storybrooke!" she shot back defensively.

"Storybrooke was not our home! It was a prison!" Emma was surprised by the vehemence in the body of the mild-mannered schoolteacher. Mary Margaret's slight frame, in her bright pink sweater and jeans shook with a rage that seemed it would better belong in a much bigger body. But Emma was never one to be deterred by rage.

She got nose to nose with the brunette. "_I_have been in prison. Storybrooke is where _my_son lives," Emma retorted. "I fought with Regina for _months_to be near him, and I am not going to let some ass-hatter – or you – keep me away from him." She stalked back inside the tunnel, her rage red hot. Her face pounded and heart hammered, leaving her short of breath.

Several yards beyond the effect of the sunlight, as she reached out to find her way, Emma lost her head of steam. She didn't hear Mary Margaret's footsteps following and hesitated. _Goddamnit._Her knees went weak and she leaned against the stone of the cave, hanging her head. _Fuck_.

Regina Mills of all people rose in her mind's eye, dressed to the nines in one of her power suits. The brunette's flashing brown eyes and lips narrowed, and her mouth formed a sneer.

_Running won't solve anything_, the apparition said.

_What the fuck?_Emma thought, head snapping up, vision vanishing as she stared at the dark tunnel's stone walls, the ridges undulating through her watering eyes like she was taking an acid trip. Wasn't it better that she was running back to someone? To her son? But the woman behind her – _Snow White, dear God!_ – was family, too, wasn't she? Emma felt a sensation in her chest she could only compare to being ripped apart.

She tossed her head and rubbed her eyes, ashamed of her tears and angrier as she looked again at the cave walls. Fuck Mary Margaret's bright smile! Her goddamned mother! A woman she had been searching for all her life. If the woman was right, out there lay the Enchanted Forest, the place where she, Emma, had been born. But it was unfamiliar. Henry was in Storybrooke. Familiar. Fucked up, yeah, but blessedly familiar. Emma pushed off the stone and turned inward again.

After a few minutes of listening to her own heavy footfalls Emma was certain she had already passed the place where she and Mary Margaret had awakened, but the rock remained regular and looked the same for dozens of yards ahead and behind. She stopped.

It was then she heard footsteps. They stopped a couple steps later. She spun to find Mary Margaret frozen in place, trying to hide in the shadows just beyond the curve of the tunnel.

Emma exhaled, and let go of the butt of the gun still in her belt holster. "I didn't expect you to follow me."

The brunette's jaw was set tight and hard. Green eyes met Emma's with determination. "I won't lose you, Emma. Not again."

"I _can't_stay here." This world was _not_hers. She needed to get back to Henry, back to a world she knew. _Hell_, Emma thought, _a verbal spar with Regina Mills would be welcome right now_. Anything but this uncertainty. "I have to get back to Henry."

The hard set to the brunette's jaw remained, but there was acquiescence in her next words. "All right," Snow said, "James and Henry are back there. So, we go back." She started feeling her way around the walls of the tunnel near Emma.

"What should we be looking for?" Emma asked as she also laid her palms against the rocks.

"I have no idea," Snow replied and took a step away from Emma. Emma heard the brunette yelp. She turned just in time to see booted feet disappearing through the rock wall.

"No!" Emma lunged after the brunette. Her body kept falling forward when what she thought was rock turned out to be an illusion. "Oh, fuck!"

* * *

Eyes only for Henry sitting at the counter sipping a tall clear glass of something white, Regina entered Granny's Diner. As she crossed the threshold, Regina felt hands grab her and throw her against a table. The table toppled. She struggled upright among the legs of the chairs. A cacophony of male and female voices shouted and cursed at her with the language of this world. Before she could safely find her footing, other hands snatched at the lapels of her jacket, lifted her and shoved her against a wall, forcing the breath from her lungs.

She recognized Dr. Whale's face behind a pair of oncoming hands. Just as she felt pressure on her larynx and the edges of her vision went back, she shut her eyes and wished herself elsewhere. A falling sensation knotted her stomach. When she felt the choking sensation pass, she opened her eyes. She clung, white-knuckled, to the end of the service counter. She narrowly avoided retching by focusing her eyes on the tiny grain pattern in the wood surface, which seemed insistent on rolling. But she was, she noted with relief, next to Henry.

"Mom!" Regina smiled wanly at Henry's surprise and word choice before her eyes drifted closed against the cold sweat pouring down her face and she blacked out.


	10. Chapter 10

_**Author's note:**__ I am so sorry it has taken forever to update. However, the school year is now completed, and I foresee being able to do something about my languishing writing. - LZ_

**I Just Need A Moment 10**

Regina awoke to pain in her shoulders and the sight of the concrete sidewalk sliding by under her legs. Her feet caught every few steps on the surface, causing her captors to stumble and pull further on her arms. She bit her lip to prevent any sounds of pain. She would not give them the satisfaction. She tried to flex her hands and call forth some magic into them. A fizzle, a spark, but nothing of substance arose.

Lifting her head, she tried to identify her surroundings. They were on Storybrooke's Main Street. A pile of store shipping pallets loomed in the middle, being thrown together by Leroy and several other dwarves. A look to her left arm found Whale manhandling her from that side, a determined grimace on his face. On her right was Thomas, Cinderella's prince. She tried to pull free. The motion wrenched her shoulder and this time her yelp of pain couldn't be stopped.

Squeezing away the tears and opening her eyes, Regina saw Henry. Standing outside of the mob, his gaze met hers. Abruptly he turned away and ran.

The sight ripped through her chest as though her heart was being ripped from behind her ribs. "Henry!" Regina hung her head. Tears too heavy to hold back any longer splattered to the pavement, like rain. Then, she realized, it was raining. She lifted her head, letting the cold winter rain pelt her face like tiny stones.

Whale slapped her. "Stop that! This is your own doing!"

She looked at him askance. "You... you think I.. I'm doing this?" She was rather proud of the acid she had managed to bring to her tone until Whale slapped her again. Her head snapped up and to the side.

"Aren't you? You are responsible for everything in this town. Isn't that what you said for the last 28 years, Madame Mayor!" His tone was mocking.

Whether she was making the rain or not (she was sure she wasn't, at least consciously; she'd never cared for weather spells), the wood pyre on which they had intended to burn her (how predictable, Regina thought) was soon soaked and wouldn't ignite. Someone in the mob suggested gasoline. Someone else ran off to get some. Rough hands continued to tie her to the wood against her struggles.

"Stop!"

Regina's gaze snapped to the speaker. Outside the gathered mob stood David. No, Regina amended, it was Charming, she realized upon seeing the determined glint in his eyes and the square of his shoulders. Beside him, looking back and forth between the prince and the crowd, biting his lip in worry, was Henry.

"She deserves to be punished! She deserves the pain!" many in the crowd shouted.

"I need her alive," Charming said. He walked forward, the mob parting in the face of their old respect for his elevated station. A few dipped their heads in slight bows. More looked on with curiosity. What would their prince do? Then there was only Whale and Thomas between Charming and Henry and Regina.

She had eyes only for Henry. Her son. She smiled weakly at him; he continued to look between Charming and Whale as the men faced off. Regina didn't care. Her heart was as light as it had felt in years. Henry had gone to find Charming. He hadn't been leaving her to the mob. He'd been looking for someone to intervene, to save her. Her head spun with the realization and the humbled feeling washed through her, weakening her knees. Sagging against the rope restraints, she couldn't feel the strain in her arms, nor the rain, or the rough slivers piercing her knees. She felt none of it. She was too overcome.

Charming shouldered past Whale. Regina looked up when she felt a heavy push against her shoulder. Charming was holding her up with one arm while pulling her one arm free of ropes with the other. Manhandling her just as his daughter had all those months ago taking her out of the city hall fire. Unable to stand on her own, she clung to him.

"James," Thomas said.

"No," Charming replied.

Regina felt a hand move against the small of her back. Turning her head slightly, she met Henry's searching gaze. He said nothing; she could find no words. Charming lifted Regina into a fireman's carry and strode through the throng. Regina kept her eyes just above his shoulder and watched Henry following close behind.

* * *

_Looks like we've fallen down the rabbit hole now_, Emma thought. Hauling on her arms, and dragging Mary Margaret just ahead of her were things - men who could only be from a drug-induced dream - a company of soldiering playing cards. She was being held by a five and eight of clubs. Pulling on her mother's arms were a nine and ten, also clubs. Two through four and the six and seven marched around them, prodding at them with spears tipped with spades. Yep, Lewis Carroll had definitely been on drugs, Emma decided. This sentiment was reinforced when they were met by a company of heart soldiers at the entrance to a vine-covered castle courtyard.

"The Queen has ordered the prisoners be taken to the garden party," the ten of hearts said to the ten of clubs. "She wishes them to be her... entertainment," he added with a smile that told Emma they wouldn't like being the entertainment.

Mary Margaret spoke up at the sound of this. "The Queen? Good. Tell her the Queen of the Enchanted Forest seeks a meeting."

The card soldiers exchanged looks at this request.

"That may not have been a good idea," Emma muttered out of the side of her mouth as she stood shoulder to shoulder with her mother.

"Nonsense," her mother replied. "We're equals."

"We're prisoners," Emma said.

One of the cards who had run off when Mary Margaret spoke came running back out of breath. "Her Majesty," he barely got out before he was engulfed in a cloud of purple smoke.

Emma's eyes narrowed as she studied the figure stepping forward out of the dissipating cloud. Dark hair, dark eyes, slender as a reed, clad in a red and white gown, holding a mask before her face. Her name - uttered by soldiers dropping to their knees in obeisance as they shoved Emma and Mary Margaret to the ground as well - couldn't have been more of a surprise.

"The Queen of Hearts."

_Damn_, Emma thought, another detail the fairytales of her youth failed to get right. This was not the fat, indulged monarch of Disney's rendition. Beside Emma, Mary Margaret's look up was aborted, her face dropping immediately. That made Emma take a second look, noting real fear on her mother's face.

The flashing angry eyes of the Wonderland queen swept over both Emma and Mary Margaret before turning to her soldier. "You said one of these women claimed to be the Queen of the Enchanted Forest!"

"The brunette, Majesty," he replied with a low bow. With a scream, the Queen of Hearts flung her hand toward him. She never touched him, but he bowled backward, heels kicking up over his head, rolling to a stop in a heap against a hedge that came to life and swallowed him as he screamed. Emma winced and averted her eyes.

"The Enchanted Forest was destroyed by the Dark Curse. Everyone knows this." The Queen of Hearts turned to Emma. "Now, who are you?"

Some part of Emma blared a warning that the truth was not useful. "Name's Alice," she said easily. "Fell down a rabbit hole."

The queen studied her for a long moment in silence. Mary Margaret said nothing and Emma prayed it would stay that way until she could verbalize her suspicions in private. But there was something else in Mary Margaret's eyes that suggested Emma's lie was safe with her, and that Mary Margaret knew more that she wasn't saying either.

"Which world did you come from, dear?" It was the 'dear' - exactly as Regina Mills had said it to Emma countless times - that widened Emma's eyes in understanding.

"Boston," Emma replied as evenly as possible. "We have tea parties."

The brunette's brown eyes narrowed and, out of the corner of her eye, Emma watched the fingers of her right hand twitch. Whatever thought passed through the woman's mind, however, left again quietly. The Queen of Hearts instead turned to Mary Margaret.

"Mary," Snow said. The woman gave an upward quirk of her brow, and Emma knew that the Queen of Hearts didn't buy that for a second.

"We've told you our names," Emma preemptively struck. "Why not tell us yours?" She gauged the woman's reaction to her presumption as amused - yeah, this was Regina's mother.

"Darling Snow..." She paused for effect then continued, "knows my name, don't you dear?" The woman lifted her hand to Snow's cheek. Emma steeled her spine to prevent jumping forward and ripping off the offending appendage. She watched closely, alert, as the woman cupped Snow White's cheek and then the back of gloved fingers caressed a prominent cheekbone. Emma expected a bone-crushing backhand smash to erupt any second.

However, Snow didn't move away from the touch, and she didn't flinch. Her mother's green eyes literally shook in their sockets though, bouncing back and forth between the older woman's eyes boring into hers. "Cora," she breathed.

"I knew you'd remember me." she added when Mary Margaret looked up at her in surprise. "I've been biding my time since Regina cast the Dark Curse taking all of you to a land without magic." She paused then asked with a narrowing of her brows, "How is Regina? How is my daughter?"

The woman's voice was filled with saccharine, utterly fake sweetness. Instead Emma sensed disdain, distaste, even hatred, and she sensed not all of it was directed at Snow White, maybe not even most of it. To Emma's ear, the woman was barely concealing venomous thoughts. _Great, someone else who wants Regina Mills dead_.

Emma and Snow suddenly found themselves flung to the ground, though not within reach of the hungry hedge. Emma lay there shocked and shook her head to clear it. She hadn't even seen Cora's hand move.

But now the witch did move, stepping forward so she loomed regally over Emma and Snow sprawled on the garden walk. Emma was caught in a dark brown glare as Cora, the Queen of Hearts, crouched and reached out. Emma resisted flinching as a gloved finger lifted her chin. "You will now tell me... Alice... How we shall get to this Boston of yours."

* * *

Regina was surprised where Charming carried her. Not back to Granny's, no. He finally set her down at the foot of the stairs to the mayor's office in city hall. She leaned against the wall; her legs weren't quite up to the task of holding her upright just yet. He had obviously touched her as long as he was willing, not able, since he wasn't even breathing hard. Movement out of the corner of her eye drew her gaze to Henry, shuffling back and forth on his sneakered feet, uncertainty and eagerness to do something both clear in his face.

"Henry," she began quietly. "Thank you." Turning to Charming fully, she acknowledged her debt to him with a dip of her head. "Why are we here?"

"I want my wife and daughter back," he said simply, firmly. His blue eyes were set hard and his jaw twitched as he tried to keep it firm as well.

"Were you able to get the hat?" she asked. Exhaling she finally found enough strength to stand without leaning against the wall, but she was not about to attempt the stairs.

"The hat?" Henry interjected. "What hat?"

Regina sighed. "Jefferson's hat. We think he took Emma and Snow through the hat."

"Where can they go through a hat?" he asked. "Wait, wait," he interrupted his own question. "Jefferson? He's in my book."

"Yes, Henry, he is."

"But he's the Mad Hatter."

Charming nodded. "Yes, a Hatter. He jumps between worlds."

"Then he's sent them to Wonderland!" Henry surmised with the conviction of youth. "But why would he do that?" He frowned, the puzzle continuing to remain unclear despite his few pieces.

Regina wasn't sure. She hadn't trusted Jefferson since meeting him in her years as a young distraught queen, hoping to revive her lost love. "I know he has worked with Rumple before."

"Rumplestiltskin brought magic to Storybrooke," Henry said.

Now Charming could see a thread. "Is it possible," he asked Regina, "that he ordered Jefferson to do something because they had gone to see him?"

"It's as good a theory as anything else. But we won't get Rumple to tell us anything."

"We still don't have any idea why Rumple wanted magic here, do we?" Charming asked.

"He made the curse. It was designed to send us all to a land without magic," Regina said. "But I don't know his ultimate reason."

"So he wanted to be here, but when the curse broke, he wanted to go back? Why else have a portal-jumping Hatter, and magic to make the hat work?" Charming asked.

"The hat doesn't jump to or from worlds without magic. That's why he had to devise the Dark Curse. Such a feat required something stronger. But he hasn't gained anything here. Other than being wealthy, a stipulation he had me add into things, Rumple doesn't have anything... in this world, or our old one."

"Well, he now has Belle," Charming pointed out.

"But he thought she was dead. So it's not like he came to search for her."

"Maybe he needs the magic to find something else."

"But none of us knew anything about this world," Regina replied. "It was just the land without magic."

"The only one?" Henry asked. He seemed to be getting excited again.

"Yes."

"Then I know what Rumplestiltskin is looking for," Henry shouted. He started running back out of the building. The adults followed quickly, Regina shaky, but on her own, and Charming pushing hard with both hands at the exit door.

Henry had run to the truck and thrown open the door, reaching for something in the seat. "It's right here," he said triumphantly, pulling out his storybook as both adults stared at him from the entrance to city hall. "He's looking for his son."

.


End file.
